Starting Over
by HopeGrace1290
Summary: Conan makes a heartrending decision to give up Ran. Two endings. One ShinRan, one ConAi.
1. 1 The Decision

**This is my newest story. It's kinda a continuation from DC manga file 646-654...**

**--**

The whole neighbourhood was dead silent except for the soft spatter of drizzle on the ground. Amidst the splashes of rain heavy footsteps could be heard. A female teenager paced through eerie mansions around her, the tears pouring from her swollen eyes indistinguishable from the sprinkle pelting onto her melancholic countenance.

She seemed to have no idea where she was heading for she strode on aimlessly, all the while facing the sodden ground. Suddenly she stopped in front of a particularly spooky manor with untended foliage rambling on the knee-high grass. The sign beside the iron gate read: Kudo Shinichi. She gazed up on the barren house, her lips trembling uncontrollably. Then, she collapsed in front of the impressive gate and sobbed convulsively, her hands shaking the iron bars.

"Shinichi! Shincihi!" she cried out towards the manor's entrance as if hoping someone with the name of Shinichi would come out. But the house remained cold and uninhabited. She fell against the gates with a crash, her whole stature shivering and her face scrunched up in agony. She hugged herself tightly and allowed the escalating rain to hammer on her mercilessly, oblivious to the fact that a dark silhouette was closely watching her.

The dark figure stepped a tad out into the moonlight. His shadow was short, only the height of a 7-year-old boy. Nevertheless, the expression on his visage was one that would never have appeared on a kid. The boy's cerulean eyes were blazing with wretchedness and his forehead was creased into a deep frown. He was biting his lower lip tightly to hold back the misery gripping his heart.

_Ran, I'm not worth you. Please don't torture yourself for me. It breaks my heart to see you like this..._

He punched his little fist into the wall shielding him from Mouri Ran's view, his eyes welling up. All of a sudden, he felt the absence of beating rain on his body. Looking up, he saw an umbrella shading him. The person holding the umbrella was a little girl with coffee-coloured hair and the same height as him.

"She's like a worm-ridden tree; externally, she seems resilient and cheerful, but sadness is eating her from the inside. In time, a gentle tap will crush her down. It's a wonder she even endured it when you abandonned her once more at the village," the girl whispered dourly.

"Haibara," the bespectacled little boy said, "do you think I'm wrong? Should I have asked her to wait for me?"

"Is there right and wrong in love? Is it your fault to request her to wait for you, or is it her fault to make that decision? I have no answer, Kudo-kun," Haibara Ai replied sullenly.

The shrunken Kudo Shinichi bowed his head, his glasses glinting opaquely. A few minutes later, he jerked up again, his eyes shining with a kind of grim resolution.

"Haibara, I need you to do something for me," Edogawa Conan stated. Haibara just stared at him impassively.

"Are you sure?" she finally said like she already knew what was on Conan's mind. Conan nodded curtly.

"I just want her to be happy, with or without me..."

--

**So I know this is really short. But I want to know what you guys think before continuing. So what do you think? R&R please!**__


	2. 2 Shinichi's Dead?

Ran brushed the few lingering tears away and stepped up the stairs to her home wearily, her mind wandering elsewhere.

_Shinichi... You left me again... Over and over again. Why, Shinichi? WHY?_ _You told me you have questions for me too, and yet you vanish into thin air without a word. Even when I gripped your hand so firmly. Can't you feel how much I need you by my side? _Tears threatened to resurface as she stared at her hands forlornly. The last look Shinichi gave her flashed in her mind. It was an expression of pure agony. Her pupils widened suddenly as a kind of revelation hit her. _That's right! Every time I see Shinichi he was always sweaty and feverish! Many times I heard him scream in pain. There was the time at the diplomat's house, and then at Central Kyoto Tower, and under the moonlit tree, and the most recent at the village! Masaka... Th-there's something wrong with him? Oh, Shinichi. Please tell me. I'm so worried..._

A shout behind her startled her back to reality.

"Ran-neechan! Ran-neechan!" a child's voice screamed frantically. Ran turned around when Haibara came into view panting earnestly.

"What's wrong, Ai-chan?"

"It's Shinichi-nichan! The nichan you showed me in the photo! I saw him lying in front of his house covered in blood!"

The last words struck Ran brutally in the chest. For a moment she stood stone still, not daring to believe what she had just heard. _No... Shinichi... It can't be true! _With a burst of energy, she darted past Haibara towards Shinichi's house.

Full of trepidation, she ran and ran as horrifying images of Shinichi sprawled in a pool of blood emerged in her mind. _Shinichi, be safe! I beg you!_

Abruptly, she stopped dead in her tracks. There before her eyes slumped Shinichi, the right side of his abdomen soaked in blood. She felt like she could not catch her breath. Was it because of all the sprinting or the sight of a lifeless Shinichi she did not know nor care. All that mattered right then was whether Shinichi was alright.

Quickly, she knelt down beside Shinichi. Years of watching her otousan deal with crime scenes came into use right now as she frenetically checked Shinichi's arm for pulse. Nothing. She tried again. Still nothing. She let go of Shinichi's chilly hand instantly as if it were hot metal.

"Shinichi! Answer me right now! SHINICHI!" Ran screamed and shook Shinichi forcefully, tears welling up in her eyes and her heart thumping wildly. "Please wake up... Please..."

Suddenly, she felt incredibly weary. Her tearful eyes shut and she collapsed onto the ground, unconscious.


	3. 3 Revelation

"Kudo-kun, it's safe to get up now," Haibara told a seemingly deceased Shinichi while she snapped close the stun-dart watch she was wearing. Shinichi opened his eyes and rose from the ground slowly as he got rid of the tennis balls from under his armpits. It was those tennis balls which halted the blood flow into his arms, consequently terminating his pulse temporarily.

"Looks like your plan worked just fine. Now she really thinks you're dead. There's one thing I can't comprehend. Why can't you just break up with her? Why must you devise this scheme to con her into believing you're dead?"

"You don't know Ran. She can be so stubborn at times. She may not totally give up on me unless she thinks I'm not alive anymore."

Silence dawned upon the both of them. Shinichi gazed wistfully at a sleeping Ran. _Gommenasai, Ran. If only I was not shrunken. If only..._

As the hush persisted, Shinichi brandished a pocketknife from his pocket.

"Kudo-kun, what are you doing?"

"If I died in this much blood, it would have seeped into the ground as well. The police will want to test the blood to confirm it's mine. Ketchup can't exactly substitute for blood this time, can it?" Shinichi conjectured while indicating the ketchup blot on the right side of his torso. It looked exactly like blood stain.

Haibara sighed. "I know whatever I say can't change your mind. Go ahead."

Shinichi bit his lip and slashed ruthlessly down on his upper arm. Blood surged from the deep gash. Shinichi's face paled as a massive amount of blood dripped onto the ground. It was a ghastly sight indeed and even Haibara, who had witnessed much callous manslaughter before, turned away.

It was a few minutes afterwards when Haibara could handle it no more. "Stop, that's enough! Let me tie up your wound."

Shinichi acquiesced without much objection. Indeed, he could not even if he wanted to after losing that much blood. Haibara tore off a piece of cloth and bandaged the lesion as best as she could.

"Honestly, are you trying to commit suicide?" Haibara admonished.

Shinichi smiled weakly. "I'm fine, I really am. Come on, Haibara. Let's get back to hakase's house before I change back into Conan again," Shinichi gasped jadedly and staggered up. Haibara followed behind him, watching his wobbly silhouette in resignation.

_Kudo-kun, I know how much this hurts you, to willingly let go of the one you love. The pains you go to so she would forget you prove it. You must be struggling in your heart, selfishly wanting her to stay by your side but at the same time hoping that she'll find happiness. I understand, Kudo Shinichi._

_I just wish, someday, maybe someday, would you do the same for me?_


	4. 4 Last Hope

_Shinichi released Ran's hand and sprinted forward._

_"Go home without me, I'll catch up with you later, Ran!" Shinichi bade adieu. And he loped away never turning back. Ran attempted to go after him but at that fateful moment, her shoelace broke. Suddenly she had a very bad premonition that she would never see Shinichi again._

_Shinichi..._

_Shinichi..._

_SHINICHI!_

Ran's eyes flew open with a jolt. "Shinichi!"

She scanned her surroundings anxiously. The whole place was deserted except for her.

"Was it all just a dream? Oh Lord, please let it be a dream!" she prayed.

It was then her eyes landed on the scarlet puddle beside her.

"Oh my God, Shinichi!" Ran's hand flew to her mouth in consternation. Tears renewed in her eyes. Her vision was a blur, and her brain no longer functioning.

But she had to make sure.

Taking out her cell phone, she dialed Megure-kebu's phone.

"H-hello?" Ran wheezed out, discovering how dry her throat was. "It's Ran. I'm reporting the possible de-death of S-shinich-chi."

--

When Megure-kebu received the phone call, he could not believe his ears. In fact, he practically dropped the receiver in shock.

"Shinichi?" Megure-kebu repeated stupidly, "there are many Shinichis. You don't mean Kudo..."

He knew the answer even before it came. "Yes."

Shinichi. The boy he was so fond of, the one notably known as the saviour of the Japanese force, the Great Detective of the East.

And he's...dead?

Everything else took backseat at that moment. Together with Takagi-keji and Sato-keji, he charged to the scene.

He saw Ran, with smudges of tears all over her cheeks and dejection in those once-upon-a-time vivacious eyes of hers. And most importantly, the coagulated pool of blood on the ground.

"Takagi-kun, collect the blood for analysis," he instructed, possibly a little harshly after the blow inflicted upon him.

"Hai!" Takagi Wataru complied. Megure Jezu directed his attention to Ran.

"Ran-chan," he said, endeavouring to sound as empathising as he could, "I know this is tough on you, but can you tell me what occurred here?"

"I... I... He... he..." and Ran relapsed into another fit of tears. Megure-kebu knew it was no use questioning her any longer.

"I can inform you what transpired here," a calm impassive voice piped up. Megure-kebu looked down to perceive the little girl who was staying with Agasa-hakase. There were not many things that scared him, but Haibara did creep him out a little by the way she carried herself. She was always, and he meant ALWAYS, so composed and aloof, as if nothing in the world had anything to do with her. In fact, the first time he met her, she had just fired a gun at a criminal. Even most adults without training would not know how to shoot. It was like she was older than she looked. Sometimes Megure-kebu wondered the same thing about Edogawa Conan, the elementary school-boy under the care of Mouri Kogoro, commonly referred to as Sleeping Kogoro,

If there was one word to describe Conan, it would be – unbelievable. Truly, he constantly engaged himself in numerous cases without the slightest sign of being terrified by the heinous crimes. Frequently, he would drop oblique hints during those cases and subsequently, Kogoro would make a superb deduction following his suggestion. He had even captured lawbreakers on his own before, or in the company of the Shonen-tantei group he joined. Megure-kebu had to constantly remind himself that Conan was only 7-years-old. The boy was so reminiscent of Shinichi, and it was not just his prowess in detective skills. Even his appearance could pass as a mini-Shinichi. The identical keen eyes of the exact same cerulean shade and the matching jet-black hair. Their hairstyles were even a replica of each other!

Which brought him back to Shinichi.

"So what happened here, Haibara?" Megure-kebu inquired to the brown-haired young lady.

"When I left hakase's house this morning, I saw someone lying on the ground. I approached him to see if he was fine and recognised him as the Shinichi-nichan Ran-neechan was always talking about. Then I spotted the blood. So I went to notify Ran-neechan."

"I ran here and saw the same thing. I checked for his pulse but c-could not detect anything. After that, I suddenly felt very sleepy and when I woke up, h-he's gone!" Ran elucidated between sobs.

"I understand," Megure-kebu said appeasingly, assuming that Ran fainted from the upset, and burrowed his frows. It was a weird story.

"Have you any idea why someone stole his cadaver?" he enquired, feeling odd to address Shinichi as nothing more but a body. Both Ran and Haibara shook their heads.

Megure-kebu's frows deepened. He could not make a head or tail of the story. Why did someone murder Shinichi? And more bizarrely, why did someone purloin his corpse?

"Megure-kebu, the outcome of the analysis is out. The blood does belong to Kudo-kun," Takagi reported.

As soon as those words fell on Ran's ears, her heart ceased beating. Her last hope was cruelly snatched away from her. She could not even cry anymore. No, she could do nothing except sit there motionless.

_Why is it so dark all of sudden?_ was her last thought before plunging onto the cold hard ground.


	5. 5 A New Character Comes In

Something icy cold touched Ran's flushed cheeks.

_Ran turned around. Shinichi was wagging a Coca Cola can in front of her._

_"Here! Aren't you thirsty?" Shinichi grinned at her._

_"Arigato," Ran thanked and took the can in her hands._

_"Oh no! There are only three minutes left," Shinichi suddenly cried out and pulled her into a wide open space._

_"Yokata, we made it!" Shinichi said in relief._

_"What is this? Some kind of plaza?"_

_"Well, wait and see!" Shinichi replied mysteriously. He glanced at his watch and started countdown._

_"Ten... Nine... Eight... Seven... Six... Five... Four... Three... Two... ONE!"_

_"Nani?" Ran exclaimed as a huge fountain suddenly spouted out around them. It was amazing. The shimmering water spurted high above their heads, and they were surrounded by nothing else but sheer water._

..."Ran, it's time to wake up. You've been sleeping for three days."...

..."Ran."...

Ran unlocked her eyes an inch. Through her hazy vision, she made out a male face with windswept black hair and piercing blue eyes staring back.

"Shinichi?" Ran whispered deliriously. She blinked her eyes to clear her eyesight. Her heart sank. It was only Conan.

She flung herself into Conan's arms, hugging him tightly, much to Conan's surprise.

"Why aren't you Shinichi? I want you to be him so much! So much..." Ran wept. Conan lowered his eyes sadly. He opened his mouth but no sound came out. The words stuck in his throat.

_Ran, I am. I AM!_

A sudden bang from outside Ran's room jolted them apart.

"Conan! Where's Conan? I want to see Conan!" a voice rang out.

Conan groaned. _That voice. Masaka..._

As anticipated, the door to Ran's room slammed open, revealing the very person in Conan's mind.

"Conan, you're alive!" the person screeched in elation. He basically flew towards Conan with wide-open arms but true to his luck, he slipped, pirouetted, fell and whacked his head on the wall.

"Why does this always happen to me?" he uttered dizzily. Both Ran and Conan crouched over him immediately.

"Are you okay, Eisuke-kun?"


	6. 6 The Request

Hondou Eisuke shook his head to get rid of the birds circling his giddy head.

"Ran-san! I'm so glad to see you still up and about after the news about Kudo's death!" Eisuke said merrily. As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he knew it was the wrong thing to say. Ran's already rather gloomy phizog positively fell.

"You heard?" was all she said.

"Sumimasen, I didn't mean to," Eisuke apologised sheepishly. Ran made a feeble attempt to smile.

"Oh," she replied lamely and stepped back towards her bed. As soon as her back was turned to Conan and Eisuke, tears started forming in her eyes. She missed Shinichi so much. Ran glimpsed the ice pack lying on her bed and felt a depressing wave of nostalgia. Whenever Ran was under the weather during their childhood, Shinichi would coax and take care of her. Whenever she was unhappy, he would always know how to cheer her up. But now, he was not there to look after her, to cheer her up...

Conan and Eisuke noticed Ran's vaguely trembling figure and deduced straight away that she was snivelling quietly to herself. Eisuke felt immensely guilty.

"Ran-san, don't be sad. I know for a fact that Kudo's still ali-" Eisuke was abruptly cut short by Conan covering his mouth. Conan glared at Eisuke and his gurgle ceased instantaneously. Nevertheless, Ran had taken in what he was saying and gathered what his unfinished word was.

"Shinichi's alive?" she tentatively asked as she swirled around, feeling fresh hope rising in her and yet, not daring to embrace the desire for fear she would be disappointed again.

"No, what I mean to say was, uh, Kudo's still, um, alive in our hearts," Eisuke fabricated. He put on a solemn façade, placed his right hand on his heart and nodded his head sombrely. Conan could no help but suppress a smile.

Ran, on the other hand, let out an, "Oh." again and turned her back to them again. _I expected it, didn't I? Then why am I so disappointed?_

Conan sighed miserably. He was afraid Eisuke was going to aggravate the situation further.

"Uh, Ran-neechan, we should probably let you rest. Come on, Eisuke-nichan," Conan said and pulled Eisuke by the ear out of Ran's room. As soon as he was sure Ran was without earshot, he started asking, "What are you doing here?"

"I heard the news about Kudo Shinichi's death. You didn't know how startled I was. And so I came back from America to check on you," Eisuke clarified.

"Well, thanks for your concern, but as you can see I'm doing perfectly well. So you can really go back to America now."

"My, you're cold, aren't you? I'm extremely sorry for just now. I genuinely didn't mean to upset Ran further," Eisuke effused with remorse. Conan sighed and responded, "I know. But I still think you should go back to America. At this rate, you will reveal my identity any moment."

"That's true. But you still owe me an explanation. What's going on? Why is Kudo Shinichi reported dead?" Eisuke demanded.

"That's a long story." Settling themselves on a couch, Conan commenced narrating the saga of occurrences ever since Eisuke left Japan.

"And that's the whole story of how baka baka me keep breaking Ran's heart," Conan finished succinctly, feeling despondent once again as old memories were brought back.

"I see," Eisuke commented, "Well then, I've decided that I'm not going back to America.

Conan nearly leaped up in surprise. "Doshte?"

"Well..." Eisuke faltered in mid-sentence, seemingly grappling with words to hard to express.

"Well what?"

"Errrr... You remember what I said before I left?"

Conan recalled back. "You said you would seize Ran from me if-"

"If you fail to give her happiness," Eisuke finished. Conan lowered his head. He knew what was coming next.

"Kudo Shinichi, I'm now asking for your permission to date Ran."


	7. 7 New Development

The question came like a punch in the stomach. Conan expected it, but that did not mean it hurt any less. It was like watching a rampaging bull coming towards you – the galling pain was to be expected but all the same, there was no dodging or alleviating it. Conan sat there speechless, feeling slightly out of breath while millions of 'No's zipped through his brain.

And he finally made a decision. "No."

"That's no fair. I-" Eisuke started to object before Conan held up a peremptory hand to discontinue him.

"I mean, no, you don't have my permission because you don't need my permission. Ran doesn't belong to me; at least, not anymore..."

Eisuke's eyes shone with gratefulness. "Arigato gozaimasu. Really, I mean it. I'll go check on Ran-san now, ok?"

Without waiting for a respond, he pranced all the way to Ran's room, leaving Conan slumped in the toffee-coloured sofa. His own words had struck him in his heart. He had truly and ultimately realised the true meaning of what he did.

_Ran really doesn't belong to me anymore... There's no turning back..._

And burying his head in his legs, he, for once, succumbed to tears of sorrow.

--

"So tomorrow at 10 in the morning, I'll pick you up to go to Tropical Land, ok?" Eisuke asked.

"Eisuke-kun, I don't really-"

"Call me Eisuke."

"Alright, Eisuke, I don't think-"

"Oh my gosh, look at the time! I have to go, Ran - I can call you Ran, right – anyway, I have an appointment! See you tomorrow!"

"Eisuke! I..." Ran observed Eisuke dashed out of the room, "...can't go tomorrow..."

Sighing, she removed the blanked covering her and set her feet on the carpeted floor. She got up and opened the door. Stifled sobs travelled to her ears. Alarmed, she darted to the source of the sound.

"Conan-kun! Daijobu?" Ran inquired anxiously when she saw Conan's shivering figure curled up on the settee.

Conan looked up with swollen eyes. "Ran! I-I mean, Ran-neechan! I-I'm fine! I'm just..." Conan wavered off as he could not come up with a convincing excuse.

"You were crying because of Shinichi, weren't you?" Ran presumed. Conan nodded hastily.

"Y-yes," he answered dishonestly. Ran's eyes watered as she gazed sadly at Conan. Suddenly, she swooped down and squeezed Conan tightly in her slender arms. Conan winced. She had pressed down on his injured arm. Ran released him quickly.

"Are you hurt somewhere?"

Conan assumed an innocent guise. "No, no, it's just that you clutched me a little too tightly."

Ran continued to survey him suspiciously. Conan grinned as persuasively as he could. _Aw shucks, I've never been good at lying._

And Ran saw through him. She grabbed Conan's left wrist and pulled up his sweater sleeve. She gasped, aghast at what she saw. Conan's bandage was wringing wet with his blood.

"Conan-kun, how did this happen?" she demanded in astonishment. She removed the binding as gingerly as she could, unfortunately still eliciting a grimace from Conan.

"I err... fell."

"You fell?" Ran mocked, "Conan, I'm not stupid. This is evidently a knife injury. You better tell me what happened right this moment!"

"Ran-neechan, I, um, cut myself while playing with the knife. I didn't want you to know..." Conan lied in as childish a voice as he could muster.

Ran looked like she was going to dismiss that as a fib until she sighed and said, "Next time don't do something that dangerous, ok? It makes me worried."

"Gommen, Ran-neechan," Conan said, ashamed. Ran gazed adoringly at Conan, feeling tremendously protective of him at that very moment. Then, for a second time, Ran enveloped Conan in her arms, careful though not to touch Conan's gash.

_I don't know why... Hugging Conan makes me feel so safe, so... comforted. Just like him... Just... Like... Him..._

_--_

The moonlight glowed luminously in the dark blue sky as a night owl hooted somewhere. Conan tripped up to Agasa's grand mahogany door and pushed the doorbell. Then he sat down on the threshold and leaned against the wall pillar.

During dinner, Ran had informed everyone about her date with Eisuke. It had absolutely shattered Conan's heart but all he could do then was paste a smiling veneer onto his face and chirp, "Have a nice day, Ran-neechan."

After dinner, Conan could not cope anymore. Anguish after anguish were piled mercilessly onto his now fragile heart and he had nowhere and no one to vent his frustrations to. And so, he yelled, "I'm going out!" and ran out of the door before anyone could stop him. But where should he go? Where could he find someone to talk to?

Almost automatically, the answer came to him. Agasa's house. Agasa and Haibara both knew about his predicament. Agasa was not the most apposite person to talk to. Sure, he knew about Conan being shrunk, but that was not synonymous with understanding how he felt. Besides, there was a huge age hiatus between them. Haibara, frosty and sardonic though she might be, at least understood him. Albeit he was not sure that Haibara would emphatise with him - in fact he could imagine her saying, "You asked for it.", she was at least someone to talk to.

The door opened to reveal Haibara.

"Somehow, I thought it might be you. Come in," Haibara greeted him. Conan entered the laboratory-like house with heavy steps.

"So," Haibara started, "Having regrets?"

Conan shot her a steely gaze. "Have you ever been nice your whole life, Haibara?"

"Can't say I have," Haibara shrugged nonchalantly. But she softened her voice all the same, "Kudo-kun, it's not too late, you know. You can still tell her the truth."

"No. If I start being fickle, everyone will only get hurt."

"But if you don't, YOU will get hurt. Grief really kills, Kudo-kun."

Conan remained silent. Then he inhaled profoundly and said, "Let's go have a drink."

Leading the way, he extracted a bottle of whisky from the wine cabinet. He turned to Haibara and asked, "Joining me?"

Haibara did not reply him. Instead, she went up to him and grabbed the whisky from his hands. Taking the cork out, she took a long swig at the strong alcohol.

Conan snatched the bottle back and poured the alcohol into his mouth in one gulp. Swallowing loudly, he wiped his mouth.

"Hey, leave some for me!" Haibara protested.

"Don't worry, there's more." Conan practically emptied the wine cabinet and set the bottles of various alcohols on the floorboards. "Race you to the finish!"

Haibara appraised Conan as he consumed one alcohol after another at an unsettling pace. _Wine doesn't make angst disappear, Kudo-kun, it merely hides them temporarily. You're only evading the problem. But you know what? I know it never feels good to be alone. I will be there with you, even when you're running away._

And with that, the both of them drank vigorously until they passed out.

--

Sunlight poured in through the glass panels on Agasa's house and on two sleeping figures on the floor. Haibara yawned and stirred in her sleep, waking Conan too. The both of them opened their eyes simultaneously. They were facing each other, their lips so close they were almost touching and their hands entwined around each other.

"Wwwaaaahhhhh!" they both screamed as the hurdled apart as two magnets would when the same poles were facing. For once, Haibara lost her composure.

"You pervert!" Haibara shrieked. Conan was indignant.

"Me? You were the one hugging me!" The word 'hugging' brought on fiery blushes on both faces.

"Let's pretend this never happened," Haibara proposed. Conan at once nodded.

"Agreed."

All said and done, Conan bolted from the manor, never once turning back.


	8. 8 Back at Tropical Land

Conan bumped into someone as soon as he exited Agasa's house. He groaned and massaged his head. It was throbbing horrifically due to the copious amount of alcohol he devoured last night and the extra impact did not exactly help.

"Hey, it's Conan!" a deep gravelly voice said. It sounded incredibly familiar.

"Yokata! Then we don't have to go to his house to ask him out anymore," a sweet child's voice twittered.

Conan looked up. Three children blinked back. The little girl with a ribbon in her short black hair swiftly went to his side.

"Here, let me help you up," she offered and took his forearm.

"Domo, Ayumi-chan."

"What are you doing here, Conan-kun?" Mitsuhiko asked.

"Aahhh..." Conan recollected the happenings just now and reddened. Somehow he did not feel like answering that particular question.

"So what are you guys doing here?" he asked back, endeavouring to parry the awkward query. Providentially for him, they did not notice the escalating rosiness of his cheeks.

"Today is Sunday, so we're planning to go to Tropical Land!"

_Tropical Land? Didn't Ran say-_ His contemplation was disrupted by what Genta said next.

"We're heading towards hakase's house right now to invite Haibara. We were going to invite you next but since you're here, we can go together."

_Haibara? _Now Conan's face was burning scarlet. _We have to meet again? So soon!!_

"Uh, guys, I have a terrible headache. I don't think I can go," Conan said. _Well, that's not a lie, I really do have a dreadful headache._

The three Shonen-tantei group members' faces darkened ominously. They chorused, "We're the Shonen-tanteis, we do everything together!"They loomed portentously over a cowering Conan. "But..." he protested meekly.

Ayumi linked her arm around his, educing even more sinister expressions on Genta's and Mitsuhiko's visages. "Come on, Conan-kun, let's go together!" she pleaded. Then, the trio and a half-dragged Conan marched into Agasa's residence.

"Ne, Haibara, we're going to Tropical Land. Come with us," Ayumi invited when Haibara opened the door.

"No thanks, I'll pass. I have a terrible headache," she replied and was about to close the door when Genta yanked her out.

"We're the Shonen-tanteis, we do everything together," the trio unanimously quoted again. It was then Genta issued D-question.

"What happened to you and Conan? You both have a headache and Conan seemed to have just left here," he asked, much to Conan's dismay.

"Nothing! Absolutely nothing!" he ejected promptly.

"Oh yes, something happened between us. Don't you remember, Edogawa-kun?" Haibara asked with a hint of intimacy.

Conan coloured. He was about to stop Haibara from continuing when she said, "Edogawa-kun came over to play a novel game Hakase designed but he told me to keep it a secret from you."

Conan's mouth fell agape. He shot Haibara a mixed look – a look of thankfulness - and resentment.

"That's all? Cheh!" Genta scowled, "You're really childish, Conan."

"Heheh, sorry guys," Conan smiled apologetically. _Sorry for perjuring, that is._

"So, what are we waiting for? Let's go to Tropical Land now!"

--

Eisuke debated to himself whether to cancel the date with Ran as he sauntered to Ran's abode. He had only asked her out because he thought it might cheer her up. But now as he thought more about it, it seemed like he was forcing her.

_I know she's mourning for Kudo right now. Should I have made her go out with me like that? Will it really do her good? I only want the best for her..._

He evoked the first time he saw Ran. At that time, she was chatting with her friends at school and apparently laughing at a joke. He instantly fell in love. Ran, her silky black hair tossed back and her eyes shining with such luster; she was the paragon of beauty. Indeed, at that moment, he felt like he had met a goddess. Every time a smile graced her exquisite countenance, his heart skipped a beat. And to add to her perfection, she even had an awesome personality. He had never encountered anyone so nice in his entire life.

But looking at her now, her charming lips had lost its mirth and her large azure eyes their sparkle. Not that she was not beautiful anymore – she was as attractive as ever but Eisuke really missed her tinkling laughter. He really yearned to see the old Mouri Ran back. It pained him to see her so disheartened.

And now, he had reached the bottom of the stairs leading to Ran's domicile. _Eisuke, now that Kudo has seceded from her life, it's your chance. Don't give up now, not after Kudo has so kindly given his consent!_

Summoning up his courage, he strutted up the steps and knocked on the door. Ran unfastened it. She smiled faintly at him.

"Ran, do you want to go? If you don't, we can cancel this whole thing you know," Eisuke said.

Ran kept quiet for a moment. She saw Eisuke's nervous expression. _Mouri Ran, you know he's trying to cheer you up. You really shouldn't make him worry._

"Yes, of course I want to go. Come on!" Ran grabbed Eisuke's hand and together they headed towards their destination, Eisuke only half-mindedly following her. _She's holding my hand! She's holding my hand! She's holding my hand! She's..._

And the story continues.

_--_

Conan walked up to Tropical Land's main entrance. _It was here, not so long ago, that I had been shrunk. If it wasn't for that day..._

"Conan-kun, is there something wrong? Your expression is horrible," Ayumi inquired anxiously.

"Nothing, it's just, uh, my headache."

"Hey, isn't that Conan-kun? Conan-kun!" a voice rang out behind him. Conan slapped his head. _Oh no! I totally forgot about Ran and Hondou's date here!_

Ran had jogged to his side. "You're here too! You didn't come home last night, I was so worried. Can you be more responsible next time, young man? You're injured, you know. You shouldn't run about without telling me!"

Conan blushed as Ran fussed over him. "Hai, Ran-neechan. I slept over at hakase's house, his new game is so addicting I can't stop playing!"

"What's that smell? Conan-kun, you were drinking last night! I can smell alcohol all over you!" Ran accused sternly.

_Shoot!_ "Uh, I... Gommenasai!"

"Ai-chan, you too!" Ran turned towards Haibara.

"Gommenasai, Ran-neechan. We were curious what wine tasted like so we had a taste. We know we're wrong! It's giving us a headache!" Haibara exclaimed contritely. Her eyes started watering as if she was extremely sorry for what she had done. Conan gave her an admiring look. She was really impressive at playing a kid when she wanted to.

"It's ok, Ai-chan. As long as you know you're wrong. Never repeat that, you understand?" Both Conan and Haibara nodded sincerely.

"Well then, let's get going!" Genta hurried them, always the impatient one. They bought tickets and entered the park. Everyone gasped in delight at the astounding game contraptions before them. Conan took the opportunity immediately.

"So, what do you want to say to me?" Conan asked in such a way only the person behind him could hear him. In this case, it was Eisuke.

"How did you know I have something to say?"

"Well, you were lagging behind me deliberately for the past few minutes. That would logically imply you're trying to find a chance to talk me privately."

"A great detective as usual," Eisuke commented dryly. He knelt down beside Conan. "You don't mind me meeting Ran here, right?"

"No," Conan lied. It was still stinging him inside.

"Really?"

"Yes, don't worry. In fact, I think you stand a very good chance with Ran."

"You really think so?" Eisuke asked happily. Conan nodded.

"Thanks a lot!" Feeling newly encouraged, he trotted beside Ran. Conan inspected their backs desolately.

"You didn't have to, you know?" a voice sounded, shattering his reverie.

"Huh? What?" Conan looked around to see the source of the voice. It was Haibara.

"Push Ran towards him."

"What? I wasn't!"

Haibara shot him a leery look.

"Ok, fine, I was! So?"

Haibara sighed. "Fine, fine, do whatever you want. I don't care." She ambled away while Conan pouted at her. Then he caught sight of Ran staring nostalgically at the roller-coaster ride.

_Shinichi, we rode this ride together. It was the very last time we had fun together. Then you left me... You left me alone... After that, you disappeared, saying you have a tough case on your hands. All those time I waited for you and now you're... you're... _She would have burst in tears if a reassuring hand had not slipped into hers. She looked down to see Conan, his blue eyes gaping concernedly at her.

"Ran-neechan?" Conan asked sadly. _I know how you feel, because... I feel the same..._

Ran breathed in deeply and smiled. "I'm fine, Conan-kun. Let's go play some games, ok?"

Conan nodded. They were about to leave when suddenly, a penetrating scream rented the air!


	9. 9 The Truth

Conan instinctively released Ran's hand and barged towards the location where the scream originated.

"Choto, Conan-kun!" Ran yelled out, extending her hand out as she tried to impede Conan. Suddenly she froze, her hand in mid-air.

_Conan-kun's silhouette, I've seen it before somewhere... _Her hand clasped over her mouth as she gasped. _It's Shinichi! At this very place, when he left me, he was running away, just like Conan-kun now! Why, they're so alike! Masaka... _Ran shook her head dolefully. _What are you thinking? These things, they just don't happen. They don't happen, Ran!_

This time she could not stop her tears anymore. She shrunk to one side, sobbing quietly into her hands. Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulders.

"Ran, daijobu da yo?" Eisuke asked, his eyes gleaming with concern. Ran hurriedly wiped her tears away.

"I'm fine.Really!" Ran reiterated when Eisuke continued staring at her with a doubtful look. "Come on, let's go find Conan-kun!"

Conan, on the other hand, was fighting his way through the crowds of people gathering around a public lavatory. His eyes dilated in horror at what he saw. A man was lying dead on the floor in one of the toilet stalls, a trail of white foam flowing repulsively from his mouth.

Quick as lightning, he flitted towards the corpse. His delicate nose directly detected a faint smell foreign to the toilet. _It's potassium cyanide! This man was poisoned!_

His eyes darted from places to places as he frantically searched for clues to this poisoning. They fell on the door lock. It was the kind of lock which can only be locked and opened from the inside. _Orle? The lock's broken! It was damaged from the outside, most probably when no one responded in the stall and they broke it down. That means it was originally locked. But then, how was the man poisoned? Suicide? Taku... I need more clues._

He went out of the stall in profound musing. Something at the sink counter caught his attention. A ring of water of about average width was set beside the sink. His eyes gleamed in satisfaction. _So this is murder after all..._

Not long after, the police arrived. Megure-kebu strode in briskly and scrutinised the situation.

"Hhmmm... Can anyone tell me what happened here?"

A robust man stepped out. "I was the one who broke down the toilet stall and found this man dead."

"Why did you break down the door?"

"That woman over there-" the man pointed at a weeping woman, "-told me that her boyfriend went into the toilet and had not come out for 30 minutes. She called out to him but there was no reply. She started getting worried and got me to help her. Since it was the only closed stall in the whole lavatory, I assumed he was in there. I pounded on the door but there was still no response. So, I tackled down the door."

Megure-kebu nodded and riveted towards the howling woman. "I'm very sorry to what happened to your boyfriend but can you tell me your names and what occurred here?"

"I'm Kawae Kyoko and my boyfriend is Shitsuji Nijima. We're here today to celebrate our anniversary. We have been celebrating here every year on our anniversary because this was where we met. While we were strolling around, my boyfriend suddenly complained of a stomachache and dashed into the toilet without another word. Since then, h-he never came out!" the woman wailed.

"Ne obasan, was your boyfriend drinking from a paper cup when he rushed into the toilet?" Conan spoke up. Megure-kebu frowned in exasperation. _Why must the boy turn up at every crime scene?_

"Y-yes, he was, but how did you know?" the woman asked in surprise.

"I saw a ring of water beside the sink matching the kind of water stain left behind by a paper cup when water vapour condenses on it and flows down. Since nobody would bring food into the toilet unless they are desperate to go, I presumed it was your boyfriend's. You said he was in much of a hurry, right?" Conan answered gleefully.

The grin disappeared when he was hauled up and hollered at. "NEVER GO NEAR A CRIME SCENE, YOU HEAR ME?" Megure-kebu bellowed.

"Hai!" Conan answered hurriedly and scuttled away with a sulk on his face. _When I was Kudo Shinichi, you begged for my help to solve cases. Now, you're lecturing me about going near the crime scene. Cheh!_

"Megure-kebu," Takagi, who had arrived with Megure-kebu, said, "We had finished collecting evidence. The door was evidently locked before it was broken down. The COD(Cause of death, for those who don't know. I learnt it from CSI!) is poisoning by potassium cyanide. There's something very weird though."

Megure-kebu looked up. "What is it?"

"The whole toilet stall was swathed in the poison. It was on the wall, the floor, the toilet, the ceiling, everywhere! There were no traces of it outside though."

Megure-kebu knitted his brows even closer. "So this is a locked room death and the scene of crime is basically covered in poison. That doesn't make sense. Why would anyone put poison everywhere? Unless the poison was put there before the vic went in and got poisoned. But how could anyone guess which stall he would use? Or even that he would go to this specific lavatory? Random murder? But since the door is locked, nobody could apply poison later. The only opening to the toilet stall was a very small window high up on the wall. Nobody could enter through there. Suicide? But then, why would he put poison everywhere? For fun?" Megure-kebu thought out loud.

"Megure-kebu, this man over here says that he has a video capturing everyone who has entered this lavatory today," Sato Miwako reported, indicating a man beside her.

"I'm this park's supervisor and I have a CCTV placed just nearby. It would have recorded everyone going in and out of this toilet," the man said.

"Is there somewhere we can watch this video now?"

"Hai, follow me."

Together, they went to a room full of television screens at one side of the wall. Then, the man played the video. They watched as a short rounded man went into the toilet and came out.

"Hey, there's our vic!" Megure-kebu said as Nijima ran into the toilet. Then, a dark tall man entered after him and came out of the lavatory.

"Choto, right over there!" Conan suddenly piped out, startling everyone in the room.

"Conan-kun! What are you doing here?" Megure-kebu exclaimed. "This is not a place for kids!"

"I'll explain later. Turn back to when the dark man left!" Conan brushed Megure-kebu's question aside. He sensed the urgency in Conan's voice and obliged immediately. Sure enough, the dark man was holding a paper cup in his hand.

"Hey, that should be our vic's drink. Why was he taking it away? Takagi-kun, quickly assemble the men who entered before and after the vic."

"Hai," Takagi saluted and left. Before long, he was back with the men.

"Megure-kebu, they were just about to leave when I caught up to them. This short man is Nishimura-san and this tall one is Toshida-san," Takagi stated.

"Leaving so soon? This park has just opened for an hour. You can't be leaving so fast. To explore this whole park, you need at least 5 hours."

The short rounded man named Nishimura spoke up. "I can come and leave at any time I want, can't I? Why am I here anyway?"

"There was a murder here and you were the only person who entered the toilet before our vic. We suspect that you are the one who applied poison to the toilet."

"Nani? This is absurd! Totally insane! Fine, I'll tell you the truth. I'm leaving because I've been stood up by a girl! Happy now?"

"We would have been if you have said that earlier. Now it just seems suspicious. You," Megure-kebu addressed the tall dark man who had remained silent all the time, "Why are you leaving so soon and why were you holding our vic's cup?" Megure-kebu pointed towards the paused video showing plainly that he was indeed holding the vic's cup.

"I thought it was rubbish left by someone irresponsible," he shrugged. "And about leaving so soon, I came just to play the new game addition to this park. That doesn't take very long. It isn't illegal, is it?"

Megure-kebu sighed. He could not make a head or tail of the murder.

"Let's go back to the crime scene," he proposed. The team trooped back obediently. Megure-kebu shook his head in frustration.

"I guess this is suicide after all. There is no other explanation. Potassium cyanide is a very hazardous poison and would have killed him immediately after entering his system. No one could have poisoned him while he was locked in the stall."

Conan was skeptical. _No! This is murder! I'm certain of it. But I've got no proof..."_

Unknown to him, he was being studied intently. Ran had watched as he examined the corpse, inspected the crime scene, made the conjecture about the paper cup and crept clandestinely behind the police into the video room. _That's just like him... Just like him..._

Ran tried very hard to shove aside her suspicions but only succeeded in recalling every similarity between Shinichi and Conan. _Their birthdays, their appearance, their brilliance, their ignorance in music... This is too much! Too MUCH!_

She took in breaths after breaths to steady herself as old suspicions rose anew in her. _Shinichi, Conan, masaka... But how could you do this to me? How could you?_

Meanwhile, Conan had perceived something on the tiny window opening above the toilet stall. _Ore? What's that bubbly stain on the window? _He activated his super-shoe and hopped up to the window. Swabbing the stain with his index finger, he rubbed it against his fingers and smelt it. A ray of light flashed through his brain.

_So that's how you did it. Yosh, time to reveal the truth!_

Ran saw it, the triumphant glint in Conan's eye which so typically sparked in Shinichi's when he had found the solution to a case. She pressed deeply into her chest in great anticipation.

_Reveal the truth, Conan-kun, reveal the truth to whether you are really Shinichi..._


	10. 10 A Turn in Events

"Ok, let's get back to the station," Megure-kebu decided and waved his troop away.

"Ch-" Conan started saying but was gagged by a hand from behind. He struggled and kicked as he felt his feet lifted off the ground.

"Hondou!" he exclaimed when he finally faced his abductor. "What do you think you're doing?"

"That's what I should be asking you," Eisuke replied huffily.

"What do you mean?"

Eisuke pointed towards Ran who was looking around as if searching for someone. "Have you any idea that she had been observing you the whole time? And now you're going to disclose the truth behind this case in front of her! Do you want to expose yourself?"

Conan blinked. It felt weird to be given a lecture about carelessness by someone like Eisuke. "I'm sorry, I didn't know. But I can't let the culprit get away like that!"

"You can't expose yourself either," Eisuke countered. _If Ran finds out about you, then I don't have a chance at all..._

Conan looked at the thoughtful Eisuke and guessed what was on his mind. _Don't worry Eisuke, I won't reveal myself to Ran. This is for you, and for Ran._

"I've got a plan," he said. "I'm going to announce the killer using your voice while you play your part."

Eisuke nodded. He was glad of the chance to impress Ran.

"Ok, let's do it!"

--

"Choto matte!" Eisuke called out to a departing Megure-kebu. The inspector groaned significantly. Whenever he was about to leave a crime scene, someone ALWAYS stopped him. Usually it was Kogoro or Conan, but this time it was Eisuke.

"Hmm?" he asked.

"I know the truth, kebu-san, the truth behind this odious crime," Eisuke mouthed in accordance to his voice emitted through Conan's bowtie.

"Crime?"

"Hai, kebu-san. This is a premeditated murder. And the murderer is one of the three main suspects, Kawae-san, Nishimura-san and Toshida-san!"

"But how?"

"The culprit found out that Shitsuji-san would be coming here with his girlfriend today and concocted this murder scheme. It shouldn't be hard, after all he came here annually on this specific date. Then he added laxatives to his drink. Toshida-san, where did you throw the cup away?"

Toshida seemed taken aback to be asked that question. "I forgot. It was a really trivial matter."

"I thought you might say so. It shouldn't be hard to locate it though since the culprit didn't have the chance to throw it outside this park's vicinity. Takagi-keji, can I trouble you to find the cup?"

Takagi glanced at Megure-kebu who gave a slight nod. "Right away!"

Soon, they saw Takagi running at high speed back with a paper cup in his hand.

"Megure-kebu, this cup tested positive for laxatives and Toshida-san's fingerprints are on it too!"

Megure-kebu nodded comprehensively. "I see. So the culprit was tailing our vic waiting for him to use the bathroom. But I still don't see how the culprit poisoned Shitsuji-san."

"As soon as Shitsuji-san was in the toilet stall, the culprit planted the poison into the toilet stall."

Megure-kebu chuckled silently. _Amateurs! _"But you see, the stall was locked. He couldn't have any chance to insert the poison, what more to say the whole toilet stall, even through the small opening," he said in a patronising tone.

"Ahh, but he can. Using bubbles."

"Bubbles?"

"Exactly. The culprit used a child's toy to carry out murder. He blew poisonous bubbles into the toilet stall. The bubbles, light as they are, drifted around the toilet stall and popped everywhere. It only takes one to poison someone to death and I imagined the culprit rained down quite some bubbles on Shitsuji-san until he could not avoid them. Anyway, he wouldn't have known they were poisonous. He would have thought it was merely someone's prank. After the culprit made sure he was dead, the culprit had to dispose of one last piece of evidence indicating this is not suicide."

"Nani?" Then an inkling of truth dawned on the people present. Concurrently, the all turned in horror towards the murderer.

"That's right. The culprit had to dispose of the cup containing the laxatives. Hanninwa, anata!" Eisuke followed his cue and pointed accusingly at Toshida-san. He trembled convulsively.

"Y-you've got no proof!" he roared.

"But I do. When you threw away the paper cup, you must have thrown the container holding the poison too. There might not be fingerprints on it, but can you explain why of all the garbage cans in this park, it would show up together with the cup you threw away?"

Megure-kebu signaled Takagi to retrieve the container enclosing the venomous liquid. Meanwhile, Toshida-san ran his fingers roughly through his hair in desperation.

"That man!" he howled out. "He killed my daughter! Three years ago, he drove into my daughter. At that time, he was a juvenile and consequently not condemned as he should have been! I have to punish him myself! My daughter was only three-years-old... Only three..."

He crumpled onto the ground, sobbing horribly. Kawae Kyoko spoke up.

"But he regretted it, he really did! The incident haunted him so much at times he would wake up at night bawling, 'I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry' over and over again. He wasn't even willing to drive a car after that!" she cried.

Everyone within earshot bowed their heads at this tragedy. Ran, in particular, was cheerless, not just because of the heart-rending misfortune befallen on the victim and the little girl, but also because it was not Conan who made the deduction...

Subsequently, the group split up into two – Conan with the Shonen-tanteis and Ran with Eisuke. The Shonen-tanteis decided that they did not feel like playing anymore after the demoralising case. They left the park as Genta, Mitsuhiko and Ayumi chattered endlessly about the case. It was then Conan noticed the something, or rather the lack of something. He had not heard Haibara's voice all that time. Haibara could be subdued, but never that unresponsive. He glimpsed at Haibara who was some distance behind them.

He almost stopped in stun. Haibara was shivering all over, her exquisite aquamarine eyes widening in fear and her shaky hands clutching her overcoat tightly to herself. Conan had never seen her so panic-stricken before, even when she was facing Vermouth on the bridge.

He slowed down his footsteps in tandem with Haibara's.

"Oi, Haibara. Daijobu?" he asked in concern. Haibara did not reply.

"Oi, OI! What's wrong?"

Suddenly Haibara hurled herself into his lap, her quivering figure snuggling up to his warm chest as she gripped Conan's body intensely. Conan did not know what to do. Haibara did not show her fragility easily, and when she did, she had to be in much emotional distress. In fact, the only time Conan ever saw her delicate emotive nature was when she was crying over the death of her beloved sister.

And he did the most natural thing that came to him. He wrapped her in his arms, gently rubbing her back as she juddered uncontrollably. He was so absorbed in soothing her he did not discern that the remaining Shonen-tantei members had wandered off out of sight.

Abruptly, Haibara pushed Conan away and rushed off, leaving a startled Conan in her wake.

"Haibara, oi HAIBARA!" Conan yelled. His words fell on deaf ears. Haibara scampered off into the road as a car came at her at full tilt!

_It's my fate... There's nowhere for me to run._ Haibara closed her eyes in acceptance to her likely fate. Suddenly, someone lunged at her and bounded away from the car with her. Haibara unfastened her eyes. Conan was panting heavily at her side. She gasped as Conan's wound broke apart and started to bleed profusely.

"Never run away from your fate, Haibara," Conan wheezed out, the paleness of his face at a crescendo. The words struck every nerve in her. Conan's philosophies never failed to touch her, and it was part of the reason why she was infatuated with him. That, and the way he would always protect her.

"Why, why did you save me?" she shrieked, tears flowing down her flushed cheeks.

Conan shrugged feebly. "Just because I want to."

Haibara flung into his lap again, seeking for console in his warm embrace. "I'm so scared, Kudo-kun!"

Conan hugged her. "Shinpai shinaide. Whatever happens, I'll be here to protect you. Now tell me what's wrong."

"I-I met Gin j-just now!" Haibara murmured out in immense dread. She glanced around as if afraid someone was listening in. Conan stiffened.

"What exactly happened?"

"W-when you were solving the case, I saw Gin at the park! And I think he saw me!" Haibara vibrated convulsively done saying that.

Conan pondered upon what to do. But first and foremost, he had to alleviate the quavering girl in his arms. Haibara had once worried herself sick – literally – because of her phobia towards the Black Organisation.

"Everything will be fine, alright? Until you are convinced that nothing bad will happen, I will stay with you, ok?"

Haibara stared at him. "I-It's ok, I'm fine really. You don't have to do that," she hurriedly said. _Don't treat me so nicely, Kudo-kun, please just don't. Not when you have someone else in your heart._

But Conan, ever so chivalrous, brushed her words aside. "Look, I promised to protect you. I won't forego what I said," he stated unwaveringly.

"No, really, I'm-"

Conan dialed his cell phone.

--

Ran's cell phone rang. She read the name flashing on the screen: Conan. She immediately picked it up.

"Moshi moshi?"

"Ran-neechan, I'm not coming back tonight. Haibara's sick and I have to take care of her."

Ran gripped her phone tightly. An alien sentiment tugged at her heart. Was it – could it be – jealousy?

"Demo Conan-kun," she impulsively reacted.

"Gommen, Ran-neechan. She's really ill. She needs me by her side."

_Calm down, Ran. Calm down. What are you getting so worked up about?_

And she replied, masquerading serenity, "Ok, Conan-kun."

Conan was about to hang up when Ran's voice summoned him. "Choto, Conan-kun?"

"Hmm?"

There was a long pause as Ran argued with herself, the words rolling on the tip of her tongue and yet not quite ready to be articulated. She replied hesitantly, "Uh... ja ne."

Conan heard the poignancy in Ran's voice. His heart plummeted. Ran sounded so sad, and he wanted to be by her side.

"Um, Ran-neechan?"

"Yes?" Ran said. Conan did not miss the expectancy in her voice. He smacked himself. _What are you doing, Shinichi? Why get her hopes up to only crash them later? Don't break her heart anymore, will you?_

"Err... Sleep well tonight."

"Oh," Ran said, sounding incredibly disappointed. Conan felt like kicking himself. _Way to go, Shinichi! You just have to let her down, don't you?_

Conan opened his mouth to say something more before he heard the click on the other end of the phone. He hung up, his face full of misery.

"Just go back to her," Haibara intervened his thoughts with a chilly tone.

Conan jumped. He had completely forgotten her presence. _You already upset a girl, don't do it to someone else, Kudo Shinichi. Haibara needs you and you know it._

"What are you talking about? Come on, let's go back to hakase's ho..."

Suddenly, everything was a blur and then total darkness as he felt the cold hard ground colliding into his head.


	11. 11 Smile

The glorious sunset extended its golden fingers everywhere, bathing the world in radiant orange and yellow. With their backs against the setting sun, two figures promenaded abreast in silence. Ran, her head downcast, her mind ruminating profoundly as she absent-mindedly observed her elongated shadow stretched in front of her, her right hand still securely clasped on her cell phone. Eisuke, his feet shuffling slightly in the awkward stillness, opened and closed his mouth repetitively, striving to break the gauche hush but always ending up in vain.

Suddenly, Ran looked up, her beautiful lips curved in an unnatural beam, a beam that did not quite reach her crestfallen sapphire eyes.

"You hungry?" she asked Eisuke. Without waiting for a reply, she continued, "Let's get something to eat!"

She interweaved her arm around Eisuke's and lugged him towards the nearest fast food restaurant. Eisuke tagged along blindly.

"Good evening. What can I get for you?" the waiter asked, pen and paper pad in hand.

"I'll have a large chocolate sundae with whipped cream, a double serving of fries, two big cheeseburgers, one..." Ran launched off a string of food names as Eisuke's jaw dropped. It seemed like she had ordered every single food item on the menu. The waiter looked as dumbfounded as he was as his hand flew over several pieces of paper.

"And you, sir?" the waiter asked when Ran finally finished her order, inconspicuously wiping his forehead.

"I-I'm good. That's all we'll have," Eisuke stammered out. He had not yet recovered from the astonishment.

"Arigato gozaimasu," the waiter said and staggered away.

"Are you okay, Eisuke? Aren't you going to eat?"

Eisuke was indignant. _Am I ok? AM I OKAY? Look who's asking!_

However, he just stuttered, "I-I'm f-fine."

Ran smiled, causing a blush to creep up Eisuke's face. Their conversation, or rather Ran's monologue, maintained the whole time they were waiting for the food to arrive. Eisuke just stared at her wordlessly as she raved on something about the birds, trees and air outside.

--

"Ah, I'm so full!" Ran sighed contentedly as she wiped her mouth with a tissue. Eisuke gawked open-mouthed at the swaying stacks of empty plate before them. _Well I'd say!_

"Are you alright, Ran?" he at last spouted the question that had been playing in his mind for some time now.

"Me? Of course I'm alright. Why won't I be?"

"Well, um, I never knew you have such an appetite," he uttered lamely.

"This? This is nothing! There was one time when I went out with Shini-" Ran petered out abruptly. She lowered her head in silence. A drip of water splashed onto the table, followed by another. And another.

"Aahhh... Ran, gommenasai! Gommenasai!" Eisuke apologised quickly, not knowing what to do. "You like to eat right? I'll get you something to eat."

Eisuke dashed clumsily from his seat. He yelped in shock as he rammed head-on into a waiter. Platters of food soared into the air as the two of them tumbled onto the ground.

"Just my luck!" he groaned. He got up, only to be thumped down on the head again by a huge serving of spaghetti. "Man!" he grumbled.

Suddenly, the whole restaurant broke out with boisterous laughter. "What's so funny?" That was when he caught his own reflection in a mirror. Noodle was splayed all over his head like a wig and appended on his nose was a gigantic tomato cut out in the flower pattern. In short, he looked like a clown.

He was about to whinge about his bad luck when he heard something that made his heart skip a beat. It was an oh-so-familiar laughter. He turned. Sure enough, Ran was giggling in amusement. His face broke out with a wide grin.

And despite his calamity, he felt like the happiest person on earth.


	12. 12 Discovered

Conan squirmed uncomfortably in bed, feeling hot and clammy all over. He tugged at his shirt involuntarily and tried to wriggle out of them. Suddenly, something icy made contact with his perspiring forehead, jolting him awake immediately.

"Haibara!" he exclaimed in surprise. Haibara, with her hand previously dabbing his temple with a towel, looked like she was about to gush with smiles at him waking up when she hastily turned around with her back towards him. Then, she marched silently back to her laboratory in Agasa's pied-à-terre, giving Conan a cold shoulder.

"What's with her?" Conan asked in bewilderment as Agasa walked up to him.

"I don't know," Agasa replied, just as mystified as Conan was. "A moment ago she was still tenderly taking care of you with a troubled expression on her face. She was the one who nursed you back to health."

"Nursed me back to health? But I'm fine." That was not the exact truth. Conan felt languid, feverish and cramped all over. But he was never one to confess weaknesses.

Agasa gave him a dubious look. "You know how long you've been out?"

"Me? Wasn't I just sleeping?"

Agasa sighed. "You've been out for three days, you know that? Your wound got infected and you had high fever for three whole days, not to mention the loss of vast amounts of blood. If it wasn't for Haibara, goodness knows how much worse you would have been. Seriously, Conan-kun, you're not superman, you know? You're just a normal human being. Don't strain yourself so much!"

"Three days?! But Ran-"

"I took care of her. She's thinking you're just sleeping over here for the time being."

Conan sat up in submission, quickly taking in everything he was told.

"I guess I should thank Haibara," he finally said. Agasa nodded in agreement. Slowly, he got out of bed and ambled to the door leading to Haibara's basement laboratory, careful not to put too much pressure on any muscle. Although he would never admit it, he felt exceptionally unwell, his brain still woozy and his steps unsteady. Softly, he knocked on the door. There was no response. _What the heck is wrong with her?_

Conan turned the door knob. The door swung open to reveal Haibara typing away on her computer keyboard in such concentration it was like she was determined to completely ignore his presence. He frowned. _Women! I can never understand them!_

He journeyed down the stairs painstakingly, still wondering why Haibara was treating him with such frigidity. He tapped her on the shoulder. Haibara, nonetheless, took no notice of him.

"Hey, thanks for taking care of me," Conan said. Haibara's deft fingers paused over the keyboard. Without taking her eyes off the apparently mesmerising computer screen, she answered frostily, "You don't have to. I'm the one who instigated your injury to become contaminated. I owe you."

She resumed her typing pointedly. Conan began to feel irritated at being snubbed so openly.

"What's your problem?" he fired out. For a moment, he thought he saw Haibara's expression change, but a millisecond later Haibara typed on, aloof mask in place.

"I don't like to be disturbed when I'm working," she shot out coolly. Conan shuddered, the tension between them more and more tangible.

"Fine! I'm off now so you can get back to your work!" Conan twirled around with annoyance. However, he moved a little too rapidly and his vision instantly blurred. Vertigo shrouded him and he almost collapsed onto the ground when abruptly, an anxious hand caught him. He turned around feebly.

Haibara was worriedly holding on to him, her mouth slightly ajar as she panted mildly and her eyes – were those – tears? He could not be sure. Propping himself against the wall, he clutched his pulsating head and shook it vehemently.

"Are you alright?" Haibara asked, her voice shaky and her detached façade utterly gone. It was hard to believe that seconds ago, she was the nippy unapproachable girl.

Conan, however, was too giddy to notice the sudden transformation.

"I'm fine," he replied simply. Haibara, tears brimming down her fair cheeks, latched her hands fervently around his neck.

"Please be ok. I... I need you so much!"

Conan, surprised for a second, gazed affectionately at the vacillating girl in his arms. He knew, deep down, Haibara was a warm gentle person. The standoffish camouflage she always wore was just a stronghold against everything that might harm her emotionally. That just showed how sensitive she was. _Poor girl, she has been through so much..._

"Shinpai shinaide, I'm really ok. I still need to protect you, right?" Conan said.

"Promise?" Haibara murmured.

"Promise."

--

In a derelict area situated deep in the woods, a man with long flaxen hair keyed in alphabets into his computer's search engine:

S H E R R Y

His long gloved finger pressed down 'Enter'. A photograph of a woman of about 18 years with coffee-coloured hair and blue-green eyes the shade of the Pacific Ocean popped up on the screen. Beside her, labelled '7-years-old', was Haibara's photograph. The man's thin lips twisted into a sneer.

"Sherry."


	13. 13 Eisuke's Confession

Ran perched beside the large window at Mouri's Detective Agency, her pensive eyes reflecting the pure blue of the sky as she stared far, far away, beyond soaring birds and over the fluffy white clouds...

Two faces danced in her mind time after time. The face of Kudo Shinichi and Edogawa Conan. They pranced around and around her brain, parading a variety of expressions which were so similar to each other that before long, they were overlapping images in her mind.

Ran sighed. She sealed her azure eyes and mentally shook the wistful thoughts out of her head. Opening her eyes again, traces of cultivating tears could be seen glinting at the corners of her huge round windows-of-the-soul. Her doleful figure arose and sauntered softly towards Conan's room.

She unbolted the door. Silence hung in the air like thick smoke, missing the usual chatter of Conan's childish voice. The bed was immaculate – no one had been sleeping in it for five days. Ran paced up to it and reclined down, pressing her cheek against Conan's bed sheets and inhaling deeply. It still held Conan's boyish scent. Tears began soaking into the sheets.

"Shinichi..."

--

Conan hobbled out of Agasa's bungalow into his former dwelling across the street. He pushed open his stiff dusty door only to see mounds and mounds of books of all sizes and shapes arrayed on lofty bookshelves that practically coated every inch of his wall, leaving merely an opening that led way to a staircase. He wrinkled his nose at the stale air. It had been such a long time since he was last here.

Disregarding the hillocks of books, he shambled purposefully up the stairs. Beside an extensive carpeted corridor was a lone door. He limped towards it. It oscillated open to reveal a shady bedroom with a king-sized bed taking up most of the space in the room. Conan limped to the bedside table with a solitary photo frame on it. He took it up.

Inside the photo frame, Shinichi and Ran grinned merrily to him, laughing at times long gone. His glasses gleaming, he squashed the frame into his thumping chest and wrapped his arms tightly around it.

"Ran..."

--

Eisuke nervously trudged up the steps en route for Ran's domicile. In his hand was a sizeable bouquet of red roses. He straightened his sweater's collar and cleared his throat before knocking on the door. The door dangled open under the pressure. _Orle? The door's not closed properly._

Curious, he trooped inside and surveyed all around him. Except for the furniture, the whole place was empty. Suddenly Ran stepped out of a door. She seemed somewhat startled to see him.

"Eisuke, what are you doing here?" she asked.

Beads of sweat broke out on his forehead as he hid the flowers behind him. Walking up to Ran, he presented her with the crimson roses.

"I b-bought these for y-you," he stuttered shyly. Ran looked dumbfounded. But before she could reply, she became aware of the presence of someone else at the door. Conan was standing there motionless as if he was rooted to the ground. His mouth was ajar and his eyebrows drooped on his shocked – and woeful – eyes.

"Conan!" Ran cried out and unconsciously took a step back from Eisuke.

Conan's countenance turned into an innocent smile, but his eyes never lost those forlorn appearance.

"Ran-neechan, I came back t-to get my clothes. But I guess this is not a good time. I should go," Conan explained hurriedly and rushed out of the place.

"Conan, it's not what you think," Ran shouted and started running after him. Unfortunately, Conan was already out of sight.

Ran leaned on the door framework, feeling her stomach churned as a maelstrom of emotions washed over her. A firm hand squeezed her shoulder.

"Ran?" Eisuke asked. Ran forced a smile onto her face. She had just realised how weird it was for her to be trying to explain things to a 7-year-old. _What am I doing? WHAT AM I DOING? I feel so lost, so confused..._

"T-that was just-" she started clarifying but was abruptly cut off by Eisuke.

"It's ok, you don't need to explain," he said and smiled benignly. Ran smiled gently back and felt fairly relieved. How could she explain what she was doing, when she was not even quite sure herself? _Baka! Conan-kun's not Shinichi, he's not, he's NOT!_

_...Is he?_

--

Conan tore out of the agency and along the streets, paying no attention to the tingling in his legs. He did not know what he was running away from. All he knew was he had to hide from Ran.

Feeling his lungs about to burst, he was finally willing to stop. He leaned against the wall and panted heavily. Pangs after pangs of sorrow showered over him. He had gone back to the agency to get a peek of Ran – he missed her so much, never imagining to see what he saw.

_But what do you expect? That she will mourn over you forever? Let go, Shinichi, let her go!_

_But I can't..._

Getting his breath back, he tottered dejectedly back to Agasa's house. Endeavouring to drive all thoughts of Eisuke and Ran together, he desperately focused on his focal responsibility for the time being – to safeguard Haibara at all cost.

Even if it meant his life.

--

Eisuke settled down on the couch with Ran and placed the bouquet at his side in disconsolation. He watched as Ran gazed unseeingly at the floor, evidently immersed in her own thoughts. He could very well guess what was on her mind.

Time crept by and still they sat there in silence. He noted when Ran bit her lip as if struggling to hold back a very strong emotion. Then he saw her eyes water. And he knew that he would never ever take the place of someone in her heart. And that very someone was the only one who could ever make her truly happy, make her smile that dazzling smile that besotted him so much.

"Ran? I have something to tell you," he said and felt his insides knotting up.

"Hmm?" Ran responded distractedly.

"I want to tell you the truth, the truth you have always yearned to know."

Ran looked up in rapt attention. "What truth?"

Eisuke inhaled deeply.

"The truth about Edogawa Conan's identity."


	14. 14 Shock

"Don't."

Eisuke was more than a little taken aback. He had expected Ran to look extremely surprised or even cry. Certainly not the impassive resigned figure sitting in front of him with that leave-everything-to-fate smile on her cherry lips.

"Nani?"

"Don't. Don't tell me. I want to hear it from him myself," Ran said, lifting her head to meet Eisuke's eyes. Those blue eyes, moments ago tearful and confused, was now crystal-clear, as if she had found a resolution.

"You knew?" he asked tentatively.

Ran shook her head, the soft smile still gracing her lovely features. "I didn't, at least, not until a few minutes ago. I should have known... No one else could give me the sense of security like he did, and no one else could ever find my hiding place except him. Except him... And definitely not a 7-year-old boy. I never realised it, but if it wasn't for Conan-kun, I would have crumbled down ever since Shinichi disappeared. But now I finally know. I don't know why he's so small now, but I want to hear it from him himself."

Eisuke let out a sigh. "He said the same thing, you know. He was obstinate to tell you the truth with his own voice. Shinichi's voice..."

"Arigato for everything, Eisuke. I really appreciate how good a friend you have been to me," Ran said and kissed Eisuke lightly on the cheek. He blushed.

"Just a friend?" Eisuke inquired sadly.

Ran looked baffled. She did not understand what Eisuke was trying to say. Eisuke felt his heart take a nose-dive. Nevertheless, he braved a smile and shook his head at Ran.

"It's nothing, really. Don't worry about it." _My feelings will have to be kept hidden, until the end of time. As long as she's happy, I'm happy._

_I finally understand why Kudo let the girl of his dreams go..._

--

Conan reclined down heavily onto the couch in Agasa's abode. He still could not shake the image of Eisuke and Ran together. Every time it crossed his mind, he felt like his heart was gripped, twisted and crushed. It was even worse than when he was either turning back to Shinichi or Conan.

_Conan opened the door to Ran's room. A clay pen-holder on the table attracted his attention. He immediately recognised it as the pottery Ran made, the one that she never let out of her sight because she did not wish anyone to see what she had carved onto the cup._

_Like always, curiosity got the better of him. His fingers sneaked onto the cup and twirled it around. He made a stupid face at what he saw. Sculpted on it in big Kanji and Katakana, were the words: SUPER-IDIOT DETECTIVE MANIAC._ _He had a very good idea at which detective Ran was referring to._

_Shaking his head with exasperation, he was about to put the cup back when he noticed something inscribed into the base of the cup. He tipped the cup to get a better look of the words. A beam blossomed on his face._

_Beneath the cup was inscribed the words: I'll be waiting for you..._

How Conan missed those words. That Ran would be waiting for him.

"Where did you go?"

Conan started as Haibara intruded his deliberation.

"Oh, Haibara. I went back to the detective agency to get my clothes," Conan said, using the same excuse as he did to Ran. Haibara appraised him lightly.

"You went back to see her, didn't you?" she said grimly.

"What are you talki-"

"Don't, lie!" Haibara said between gritted teeth. Conan looked up in surprise at the harshness of her voice. Haibara took a deep breath. _Why can't you get over her, Edogawa-kun? Why? After all I've done for you?_

Oblivious to Haibara's sentiments, Conan said, "Oi, Haibara. Daijobu?"

Haibara did not reply. Instead, she turned her back to him as her eyes stung with the urge to cry. Conan was even more concerned. He got up and placed a hand on her forehead.

"Are you ill?"

She could no longer suppress her dejection as a single tear rolled down her cheeks.

"Why are you treating me so nicely?" _When you have her in your heart?_

Conan looked bewildered and nonplussed at why Haibara was reacting the way she was.

"Baro, because you're like a sister to me. A sister I must protect," Conan added. Haibara froze.

_A sister? A SISTER? That's all I am?_

"I'm going to take a walk," Haibara uttered in a deadpan voice. Her face regained the blank expressionless face it was so used to as she tramped out of the house, ignoring Conan's cry behind her.

"What's with her again? Women!"

--

As soon as Haibara shut the door behind her, she started sprinting away, tears trailing at the side of her eyes.

_I hate you! I hate Ran! I hate everyone!_

_I HATE ME!_

In her frenzy, she slammed into someone's leg. She fluttered her eyes and saw who else but Ran gazing at her.

"Ai-chan?" Ran leaned down to her. Haibara thrashed Ran's hand away when she tried to help Haibara get up.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" Haibara yelled and crawled back a few steps from Ran.

"Ai-chan, what's wrong?" Ran asked in concern at the dishevelled little girl with tear stains all over her flushed face.

"I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!" Haibara screeched, ignoring the hurt look flitting on Ran's face. In fact, she felt good to be wounding her.

"Ai-chan-" Ran said as she approached Haibara, who slunk a few steps back instantly. But her short legs were no match to Ran's long ones. As Ran bowed down towards her, she floundered her arms about wildly. And her palm made contact with Ran's cheeks.

_Smack! _sounded shrilly as she slapped Ran hard in the face. She immobilised. So did Ran.

The both of them, in their awkward positions, stopped. It was like the time itself had halted. Haibara gasped as she realised what she had done.

After a few minutes that felt like eternity, Ran moved her hand to her cheek, the burning mark of Haibara's palm still tingling on her face.

"A-ai-chan," Ran hesitated.

_She's going to lash out at me. I know she would. Who wouldn't be mad at being slapped without any apparent reason? And even if there was a reason?_

_But I don't care! I DON'T CARE!_

"Gommenasai!" Ran exclaimed out. Haibara inhaled sharply.

"Why are you apologising?" she cried out, unable to flout the sign of tears in Ran's eyes. _Scold me! Just scold me! Why wouldn't you?_

"I did something wrong, didn't I? Or why would you hate me?"

Tears poured from Haibara's eyes. She had forgotten how kind and considerate Ran was. And how much Ran resembled her deceased sister...

_Haibara stood on the illuminated road in the dark midnight sky, shivering as Vermouth leered down at her. With her gun aimed at her heart._

_She closed her eyes, awaiting the bullet to penetrate her, to terminate her existence..._

_Suddenly, the bunk of Jodie Saitemillion's car snapped open. She saw, as fast as lightning, was Ran pelting towards her, exercising her years of training in karate to thrust her out of the bullet's deadly pathway._

_Haibara realised with a jolt that she was rescuing her at the risk of her own life._

Like now, Ran was still giving Haibara the benefit of the doubt. She believed in Haibara. She believed the goodness in Haibara.

Just like her dearly adored late sister, Miyano Akemi. Words could not describe how much Haibara missed her, how empty she felt when her sister departed her. And here was Ran, showering her with sisterly love when she was treating Ran so unfeelingly.

Before she knew it, she found herself trembling in Ran's embrace. Ran massaged her back comfortingly, telling her everything was alright.

But everything was not alright.

A terrible tremor ran through her spine as she sensed something she dreaded so much. Something callous, and black...

Ran loosened her grip around Haibara's body abruptly as her eyes shut and she started falling. Haibara turned and felt an electric shock smarting her neck. She lost consciousness immediately.

The last view blazing in her eyes was the hard-hearted face of a man with long blond hair.


	15. 15 Death

Conan was still bemused over Haibara's bizarre behaviour when a sudden paroxysm wrenched his internals – the kind of ill-omened sixth sense he always had before something dismal occurred. He sat up in alarm, his palms beginning to perspire in uneasiness and an ominous prickle running along his neck. _Masaka... Something bad happened to Haibara?_

The front door flung open with a resounding _clang!_ Agasa huffed there, his face a burgundy colour from lack of air and panic. In his hand he clutched an envelope which he waved, beckoning Conan to come over.

"S-shin-i-ichi," he rasped out. Conan darted to him immediately, aware that something was very wrong. He just prayed that that something did not have anything to do with Haibara – or Ran. _What if it was Ran? _Conan gasped in horror. He previously had had several hunches when Ran was in trouble. _What if-_

Conan did not want to consider the possibility any further. Instead, he quickened is pace and snatched the letter away from Agasa's hand, not caring at all if he was acting rudely. On the paper inside was written: WE HAVE SHERRY. AND A PRETTY LITTLE BRUNETTE WITH HER. COME FIND US IF YOU DON'T WANT ANYTHING BAD TO HAPPEN TO THEM. ON THE KEY IS THE ADDRESS. Conan glanced at the key which was enclosed with the letter and resumed perusing.

ONE MORE THING. DON'T YOU DARE REPORT TO THE POLICE OR ELSE...

GIN

Conan held his breath in intense remorse. Haibara was kidnapped from under his nose. He broke his promise to her. And the brunette... _No, it can't be her!_

A few tresses of hair fell out of the envelope. Not surprisingly, there was Haibara's auburn hair and some dark brown ones. Conan clenched the hair in his taut fist. He could recognise the hair anywhere. It was none other than Ran's.

Losing no time, he hurtled away in the direction of the address, his teeth bared in extreme wrath and anxiety.

_If you dare hurt any one of them, I swear, I SWEAR I'll get you! We'll end this once and for all, Gin!_

--

Haibara awoke with a start as icy water was splashed onto her face. She fluttered her eyes as they adjusted to the glaring light in the warehouse-like, feeling ached all over. The spot at her neck where she was electrocuted still bristled with pain and her hands – well, she could not even feel her hands. It was then she noticed her wrists were tied rigidly to the wood planks and her ankles to the wooden pole behind her. In other words, she was sprawled vertically on a cross-shaped post as if she was being crucified. She glimpsed to her side. Ran was being given the exact treatment as her except she had not yet revived.

"Sherry," someone hissed. Haibara stiffened and gasped. It was the voice that she dreaded so much, the voice that haunted her dreams...

Gin, a cruel leer on his scornful countenance, was staring straight into her eyes. Haibara could almost feel her eyes burn. She turned her head immediately, only to be rammed back again by Gin's malicious pale fingers. Gin was now at such a close proximity their noses were touching.

Haibara flinched and struggled to no avail. Her limbs were fastened so tightly there was not even space to move an inch. And even if she managed to wrestle off her bindings, she would never be able to escape from Gin.

"Give up, Sherry, you know it's no use," Gin derided, giving off a cold, mirthless laughter. Haibara shuddered.

"Get away from me, filth!" she yelled. Gin merely sniggered. Suddenly, he wedged his lips onto Haibara's, biting on her lips violently until he tasted her blood. Revolted, Haibara tussled, turning her head back and forth but Gin was too strong for her. She did the only thing she could – she spat into Gin's mouth. Gin retracted his blood-stained lips immediately.

"So you like it rough, huh?" Gin scoffed, Haibara's blood issuing horrifyingly from his mouth. "I'll give you rough. Vodka, hand me the whip."

Vodka emerged from the darkness holding a thick bullwhip. Gin took it and with a powerful flourish, flogged the whip onto Haibara. Haibara's shirt ripped, exposing a deep gash. Haibara winced at the toe-curling pain coasting through her.

"Now tell me, who had been helping you all this time?" Gin said. Once upon a time, Haibara might have surrendered to the blinding pain and even more atrocious terror in her. But now, she sent a piercing stare straight back into Gin's gray eyes, those aquamarine orbs not about to divulge anything; instead, the coldness in them matched his. Gin appeared mildly flabbergasted. Haibara never ever defied him like that before.

"Ah, so now you are more resilient, aren't you? Doesn't matter, I'll teach you to fear me." Gin wielded the whip on Haibara again, cracking as it contacted Haibara. Haibara cringed again, but her will was strong. She recommenced her stare.

_Crack!_

_Crack!_

_Crack!_

A few more lashes after, Haibara was frail, bloody and numb all over from the recurring pain coursing through her. And yet she still was not willing to surrender. She remained silent, sending little goosebumps through Gin as she fixed her spiteful eyes on him.

"Tell me the name of the person who's been helping you!" Gin roared, betraying his frustration. _Crack! Crack!_ went the bullwhip again.

Haibara opened her mouth for the very first time. "Kill me! Because I will never tell!"

Gin assessed the weak little girl in front of him. Her face was pasty and wounded at several places, her clothes tattered and tainted with blood. Brown hair stuck to her face as she sweated in unbearable throbbing. But still, her eyes remained adamant and malevolent. And he knew she would never expose anything.

"Your wish is my command," Gin scoffed in mock courtesy as he bowed down. A gun under him fired.

_Pong!_

Haibara felt the bullet sear her skin and infiltrate her flesh until it reached her beating source of life. Her eyes dilated rapidly and she panted while it grinded her thumping bundle of muscles. Warm blood trickled incessantly from the bullet's entry.

Ran, beside her, jerked awake at the shot.

"Ai-chan. Ai-chan! What's going on? AI-CHAN!"

"Aniki, if she dies, we'll never find out who's been aiding her," Vodka said, ignoring Ran's frantic screams.

Gin gave a small lopsided smile at the question. "If I'm not mistaken, he's coming already."

Vodka gave the impression of being puzzled, but he did not dare to contradict Gin. So he merely nodded.

And with a sweep of their long black cloaks, the troop of con men left with a shrieking Ran.

--

Conan raced through towering ghostly trees and stepped into puddles of mud-water, but he was too occupied to notice his surroundings. Finally, he reached the place where the address had indicated. As he neared the extensive rectangular building, an atmosphere of creepiness veiled him and a crow cackled somewhere. Nevertheless, he continued on without dithering. A door embedded in the grimy featureless wall loomed up to him.

Taking the key out, he inserted it into an opening in the door. The door clinked signalling to him that it was unlocked. He turned the door knob.

Inside the building were stacks and stacks of wooden crates, limiting his vision. He scrambled around and lost his way in the labyrinth of boxes. Suddenly his ears detected a faraway sound. A gunfire, to be exact.

A pang clutched his heart. He did not know who was being shot, but both Ran and Haibara were like his left and right arms. He could not lose either one of them.

Employing his keen hearing, he darted through the maze towards the sound. The dim lighting in the storehouse suddenly gave way to light as he exited to a clearing. And his heart skipped a beat. Haibara, crucified on a cross, was injured all over. His eyes at once rested on a dark crimson stain on Haibara's chest. The red stain was gradually expanding.

"HAIBARA!" Conan bellowed. He dashed to her side, untying her and carrying her gently to the ground. Haibara struggled open her eyes an inch. She could not see clearly, but she knew it was Conan.

"Kudo-kun, you came," she whispered, every time she articulated a syllable an agonising pain shot through her.

"Haibara, don't talk. You need to rest," Conan pleaded.

"Listen to me," Haibara continued. "This is my last chance to talk to you."

"This is all my fault. I failed to protect you..." Conan faltered off, tears welling up in his eyes.

"No, you didn't fail. You protected me. You protected me from the fate of dying in fear. You showed me a wonderful life, a life I never had. And... I'm happy," Haibara mumbled, dizziness clouding her.

"Haibara, HAIBARA, TALK TO ME! DON'T FALL ASLEEP!"

"Kudo-kun, save Ran-neechan. She's still in their hands. You must save her," Haibara murmured faintly. Conan pressed closer to catch what she was saying.

"I will, I will, Haibara."

"There's something I have to tell you," Haibara continued, exerting great effort to keep breathing. She put her feeble hand in her pocket and took something out. Then, she forced it into Conan's palm. Conan opened his hand to see a pill-like thing.

"What's this?"

"I-it's the ant-tidote," Haibara gasped, feeling her breath slipping away. "I-I had it wit-th me f-for s-ssome t-time alread-dy."

"But why? Why didn't you give me to me earlier?"

"Y-you st-till don't g-get it? W-why I treat-ted you ss-so cc-oldly t-twice bef-fore?" Haibara mumbled, her weary eyes scanning Conan's face as if she was never going to see it again. She halted at his eyes, instilling them deeply in her memory, desiring them to be the last thing she ever saw.

Conan shook his head.

"B-because," she mumbled, gazing deeply into those enthralling blue eyes. "I-I lov-ve y-you." Haibara felt something like release in her as she said those words. Then her eyes closed, never to open again, a satisfied smile on her lips. Conan gasped in disbelief as Haibara limped down.

"HAIBARA!!"

Hugging Haibara's body forcefully, Conan sobbed. He laid Haibara down on the ground, surveying her one last time as remembrances of them together played in his mind. As tragic as it was, Conan never saw Haibara more at peace. Albeit battered and bloody, Haibara laid there looking so serene Conan thought for a second that she could be still alive, that she was only sleeping. But facts told him otherwise.

_Perhaps, this is the best for her..._

Conan crammed his furious fist into the ground and swallowed the pill. As the antidote came into effect, the familiar pain streamed in his veins. He felt as if his bones were melting, his body on fire and his brain splitting into half-

"AAHHHH!"

A tired male teenager writhed on the ground, torn children's garments hung in shreds on his body, showing a muscular chest and strong, sinewy arms bound by bandages at one point. He arose, windswept bangs shielding his eyes as his knuckles cracked. Haibara's words lurked in his brain.

_Save Ran..._


	16. 16 Mastermind

The lone figure rummaged among the hoards of crates in the warehouse. At last he seemed to locate what he was looking for. He dug into a crate and pulled out a button-down shirt and jeans which he put on immediately.

Reeling to Haibara's lifeless corpse on the ground, he placed a kiss lightly on her forehead.

"I'll be back for you, I promise. You deserve a proper burial," he said solemnly. Giving her a final hug, he walked out of the storehouse.

"Hands up," a cold voice rang in his ears as soon as he opened the door. The cold shaft of a handgun was driven into the side of his temple.

"Aniki! H-he's the kid from the park! The high-school meitantei, Kudo Shinichi!" a low voice exclaimed. The holder of the gun snarled.

"So he survived the poison eh? Well, I'll like to see him get out of this – alive."

Gin laughed scathingly, his finger bearing ominously down on the gun trigger. Shinichi closed his eyes. _This will be the end, then..._

Suddenly, Gin's cell phone rang. He scowled slightly at the interference but nevertheless flipped the phone open with his free hand. His eyes widened slightly at the number displayed on the screen. He hastily answered the call.

"Master?" he said reverently, wondering why he was calling. His boss never called without any crucial reason.

"Bring the boy here."

Gin did not agree with him, but everyone knew no one gainsaid the boss. What he commanded, it would be done. And so he replied submissively, "Hai, master."

Hanging up the phone, he barked out instructions. "Vodka, deposit him in the car, the car the girl is in!"

"Wakata." Half shoving and half dragging, Vodka compelled Shinichi into the car. Shinichi gasped as he saw a gagged and trussed up girl in the black van.

"Ran!" he yelled and climbed into the car in a hurry. The girl turned to him and started wriggling in her ties, emitting muffled cries. The door slammed close behind Shinichi and a lock clicked shut. Shinichi swiftly untied Ran.

"Shinichi! Ai-chan! She was shot!"

Shinichi bowed her head in grief. "I know, Ran. I know. She has p-passed away."

Ran gasped in horror. "Ai-chan! What's going on? Why did they kill her?"

The car rumbled to a start and commenced on a fateful journey. Shinichi gave a relatively concise summary of the situation. The shock in Ran mounted as Shinichi accounted on his encounter with the enigmatic organisation, how he was shrunken and met Haibara, the creator of the poison, how he had previously battled with the organisation, how he had evaded their grasps the entire time all up to how Haibara died. Ran shook her head in disbelief at the fantastic tale.

"Why won't you tell me what you're dealing with? All those time you were Conan and I begged you to tell me the truth, and every time you tricked me," Ran indicted, feeling both ire and disappointment peaking inside her.

"I-I didn't want you to be involved in this dark business," Shinichi confessed, lowering his head in shame. Ran felt her tears developing in her eyes. She was extremely dejected and disillusioned, but she knew that what Shinichi did it was all for her own good.

"But Ai..."

"I know, Ran," Shinichi said softly and squeezed her hand. Ran rested her head on Shinichi's shoulder, sobbing quietly at the death of her sister-like little friend. Shinichi enveloped her in his embrace and let her vent all her anguish out. They continued in silence until the car came to a stop somewhere – Shinichi could not be sure because all the windows were tinted an opaque black and his front and back were sealed off.

The door beside Shinichi slid open to reveal Vodka holding a gleaming shotgun in his hand.

"Move!" he motioned to Shinichi with his shotgun. Shinichi glared at him and got out of the car, all the while sheltering Ran behind him. Petrified, Ran did whatever Shinichi initiated.

Blindfolded, they were being led somewhere with intimidating guns pressed into their backs. Shinichi attempted to memorise the perplexing series of turns and stairs, but gave up soon. He felt Ran shivering in fear beside her. _It's all my fault she's dragged into this. Even if it costs my life, I have to protect her!_

He slipped a reassuring hand in Ran's cold hand as understanding passed between them.

_Shinichi, I'm scared._

_Don't be, Ran. I'm here. I'm here with you._

_I trust you, Shinichi._

Ran could not see Shinichi, but she knew he was smiling at her. Ran smiled back. She lifted her shoulders and strode with renewed courage. She had faith in Shinichi. She knew he would protect her. And she put her life in his hands.

_Ran stood on the swaggering platform with a glinting knife held so close to her neck it grazed her. Warm blood trickled down her neck. She was extremely lethargic and weary from near drowning moments ago. And now her life was hanging on the line but she could not do anything about it. She felt defenceless, vulnerable..._

_She clutched the A card symbolising Shinichi above her pounding heart._

_Save me, Shinichi!_

_And through her blurred vision, she saw, silhouetted against the golden rays of sunset so it was like he was emanating radiance, was Shinichi, holding a gun in his hand aimed at her. Her eyes widened. Was Shinichi going to shoot her?_

_And Shinichi, the love of her life, fired. The buzzing of the bullet chimed in her ears as she felt her thigh grazed by it. She fell, collapsing to the slanted beam, her neck injured and her thigh throbbing. But she was glad._

_Shinichi saved her life._

_She had learnt later that it was Conan who shot the gun, but deep down she knew it was Shinichi._

And now, her suspicions were confirmed. Shinichi had always been there for her, whether as himself or as Conan. How could she not love and trust him, when he was constantly there to guard her? He was her knight in shining armour. Her heart just burst with passion whenever she was with him.

"Stop," Vodka ordered. Their steps broke immediately.

"You," Vodka pushed Shinichi. "Go in! And you," he shoved Ran to another side, "Go there!"

"Shinichi?" Ran cried helplessly, her hands flapping around for Shinichi's hand.

"Ran, Ran!" Shinichi shouted, pulling towards Ran's sound but was abruptly drawn back by a strong hand.

"Shinichi! Shinichi!" Ran cried, her voice becoming softer and softer to Shinichi's ears, as if she was being towed away. Shinichi was incensed and worried. He did not want to be separated from Ran, especially when Ran needed him so much.

"Ran!!" he bellowed before being thrust abrasively into a room. He heard the door banged shut behind him and took off his blindfold immediately.

He was standing in a dark room with black walls and no windows. The only source of light in the room was the gigantic screen in front of him, which was humming with static at that moment. Before the screen were a wide office desk and a cushioned office chair with its back facing him.

"Welcome, Kudo Shinichi, son of Kudo Yusaku and Kudo Yukiko. The 173 cm tall 17-year-old tantei-san who has solved countless brain-wrecking cases, recently using Mouri Kogoro as a pretext to announce deductions, sometimes using Suzuki Sonoko and Agasa hakase and other trivial people as well, the latest case being the poisoning case at Tropical Land. Currently living under the same roof as Mouri Kogoro and childhood friend, Mouri Ran as Edogawa Conan. Was shrunken by my right-hand man, Gin after solving the roller-coaster murder case at Tropical Land. Met up with the traitor, Sherry at Beika Elementary School. Was formerly a student at Teitan High School," a digitally altered voice sounded from the chair.

Shinichi closed his eyes and smirked. "So you know all about me, huh? Well, I know who you are too, mastermind of the black organisation."


	17. 17 Captured

"Turn around and face me like a man, Agasa hakase, or should I say the person who has been pretending to be him for the past week," Shinichi declared.

The voice behind the chair roared with laughter, now no longer digital but light, refined and amiable – the voice of a young man. The chair swung around, exposing a brown-haired man in his mid-thirties, dressed in an ornately expensive jacket. He clapped sardonically, the sound reverberating around the spacious room.

"So you knew?" he said, an inscrutable smile on his respectable-looking visage.

Shinichi sighed in shame. "Why didn't I notice it sooner? Maybe Haibara would still be..." Shinichi hung his head in regret.

"Pardon me for sounding pompous, but I consider my subterfuge rather well done. How did you find out?" the man inquired, green eyes twinkling with polite curiosity.

"Just now, when you discovered the letter, you showed it to me and didn't stop me from coming."

"So?"

"The real hakase would have told me to report it to the authorities, or at least offered to drive me here and not let me come alone. He's so cautious he did not even allow me to confide in Ran about my predicament."

The man chuckled. "I see. But his aberrant reaction could have been the result of anxiety for Sherry – or Haibara Ai as you are accustomed with – couldn't it?"

Shinichi shook his head in disagreement. "Reflexes at the nick of time reveal the genuine innate self. The hakase I've known since birth may be absent-minded at frivolous aspects, but when it concerns something this big, he has always been vigilant. But that's not the focal issue right now. Are Ran and hakase alright? Why am I here?"

"Patience, my boy," the man chided, "I believe I haven't properly introduced myself. I'm Alexander, named after Alexander the Great."

"Tell me whether they are ok!" Shinichi hollered, losing control as his livid hands grabbed Alexander by the collar.

"I don't think you would want to do that," he said and took a remote controller out of his pocket. He flicked a switch. The screen snapped on instantly, illustrating a teenage girl and a podgy balding man in lab coat chained to the wall.

"Ran! Hakase!" Shinichi growled, barely able to withhold his hands from the man's throat.

The man took out another black pod-like thing with a palpable red button on it. He brandished it to Shinichi.

"You know what this is?" he said as amiably as before, as if he was merely boasting about one of his trophies to acquaintances. "This is a bomb trigger. This button here if pressed will activate the bomb timer in that chamber." He pointed towards the gargantuan screen as it was zoomed closer. The screen now showed clearly a bomb located at the corner, the timer flashing 5 : 00. Shinichi's heart sped up. _Ran...!_

"What do you want?" he bit out, his palm clenching into a fist.

"Simple. I admire your wits and intelligence. I want you to work for me-"

"Never!" Shinichi asserted, the very thought revolting him.

"Well then, I guess we have to bid farewell to your little sweetheart and mentor..." the man said, still retaining that sickeningly cordial tone. His fingers neared the button slowly.

"Damme da!" Shinichi bellowed, his pulse quickening. _What should I do? What should I do?_

"I don't like waiting, Kudo-san. What's your answer?" the man studied him, an affable smile on his face.

Shinichi debated with himself furiously. Him! The advocate for justice! Serve the man who was scheming to usurp the world of its stability and righteousness?

Suddenly his eye caught something. On the screen was the famous blond American actress Sharon Vineyard, who in fact turned out to be Vermouth, one of the most notorious affiliate of this black organisation. She was skulking towards Ran, holding a gleaming key in her hand. _She's going to release Ran! _he realised with a jolt. _That's right! It was the same at that time. She would not fire at Haibara because Ran was shielding her. She even shot at her cohort so he would not shoot Ran!_

The man known as Alexander did not see what was illustrated on the screen. He was still inspecting Shinichi closely, his back towards the monitor. Shinichi was determined to distract him at all cost.

"Heh. You want me to work for you, but what do I get in return?" Shinichi inquired, endeavouring to capture Alexander's attention as long as possible. _Quick, Ran! Leave now!_

"What everyone desires. Money." Alexander pronounced the last word with relish. Shinichi watched as Vermouth struggled with Ran's cuffs. He perspired inwardly.

"Money? That's why you're doing all this? You established this underground syndicate just to obtain money?"

Alexander laughed in amusement. Suddenly, a dark look came over his fictitiously genial face. "Yes, that's exactly what I want. Money, and the power that comes with it. I was born a very poor man. My mother raised me up alone – we were abandonned by my God-damn father! I watched as she struggled every day, begging people for money just to give me a meal. In the end, she died of fatigue. She died because of me! And after that, I was sent to the orphanage. People at my school bullied and tortured me just because I was parentless and poor! I watched as the wealthy kids barged around my school, thinking they're God's gift just because they're loaded! They acted like emperors in school, expecting to be waited on hands and knees. The worst thing was – the other students fawned upon them, behaving like sycophants to them! What they craved, they got. I hate it! I HATE IT!"

"What happened next?" Shinichi asked, his eyes furtively following the screen. Vermouth had at last succeeded in un-cuffing Ran and was about to leave. However, Ran knelt down before her, seemingly imploring her for something. Vermouth, stared at her stonily for a moment before throwing the keys on the floor and walked out. Ran picked up the keys and went to Agasa's side.

Shinichi needed not have worried. Alexander was so wrapped up in his past he would hardly have noticed it if he was gone. But Shinichi remained, hankering to sidetrack him for as long as possible. The Alexander in front of him now was no longer the placid good-humoured Alexander. In his place was a man with his face contorted in rage and hatred as he recounted the history that he loathed so much. Alexander ran his fingers through his brown-hair wretchedly as continued his story.

"I saw something I had that they did not have. I had independence, and aptitude. Even though I was tortured and ridiculed beyond belief, I persevered. I studied hard. What kept me on was the thought for revenge. I was going to make them pay!" he snarled, a malevolent look glinting in those emerald eyes.

"Then?"

"When I graduated, I involved myself in a drug-dealing consortium. I quickly gained place in the group and became a star in my head's eyes. When he died, or should I say, when I murdered him with my own hands, I naturally inherited the position. That was my first ever homicide." Alexander licked his lips with savour, as if it was one of his fondest memory. Shinichi was nauseated, but kept an interested face on. "After that, I revolutionalised the organisation into what you can see today. It is quite some accomplishment, if I must say so myself. Honestly, I think my head should be proud of me. I improved his petty troupe into this!" Alexander laughed maliciously.

Shinichi surveyed the screen apprehensively. Ran had just gotten one of Agasa's cuffs off and Alexander seemed like he had finished with his tale. He needed to find something to occupy Alexander with – and fast!

Alexander was about to turn towards the screen when Shinichi shot out a question immediately. "I still have a question. You could not be younger than 50. How do you keep looking so young?"

Alexander grinned conceitedly. "I'm 95-years-old, for your information. Can you guess my little secret of eternal youth?"

"Let me guess. It has something to do with the poison that shrank me, doesn't it?"

Alexander roared with laughter again. "Right on the spot, my boy. I've taken six pills. Now I'm physically 35."

"But aren't you afraid it may kill you?"

"Bah! What's the use of having mammon and supremacy if you can't enjoy them? I aspire for immortality." Alexander twirled on his heels so abruptly Shinichi could not stop him. His eyes dilated irately at the sight before him. The chamber was completely empty. He turned around, now a polished black pistol in his hand targeted straight at Shinichi's head!

Alexander bared his teeth in fury. "So that's why you were so fascinated with my story. I have another piece of information for you. I despise double-crossers!"

And his finger bore down on the gun trigger, causing a resonant _Pong!_ to echo throughout the whole room, especially in Shinichi's ears.


	18. 18 The End

Shinichi shut his eyes, his life flashing before his eyes, an intense pang of regret twisting his heart. _I never got to say those words out loud. Never... Ran, I love you! I LOVE YOU!_

The anticipated pain coursed through him, but it did not source from where he expected. He opened his eyes in astonishment. He was shot, but not in the temple, but grazing his cheek. He scanned his surroundings in disbelief. Ran was standing in the room, her leg elevated in the air as the pistol soared through the air and landed on the ground with a loud _clang!_ Alexander seemed gobsmacked, his hand still extended and cupped as if he was still holding a gun. Shinichi gasped when his eyes landed on the previously fastened door. It was still swinging slightly from the unexpected force impacted on it, the bungled lock catastrophically bent out of shape. He made a mental note never to cross Ran.

"Ran!" Shinichi exclaimed, running towards her. Ran turned around.

"Shin-" As soon as she turned around, a blow struck into her, sending her flying to the wall. She bashed into it roughly and crumpled down as if she was a piece of paper. Vehemence rose to a paramount in Shinichi. _How dare he do that to Ran?_

Eyes blinded by peaking rage, he caught hold of anything he could and kicked it straight at Alexander. The paperweight zipped straight into his face and his legs folded as he disintegrated onto the ground. However, he was not about to give up. He stood up, his nose bleeding profusely and his eyes wild with insanity.

"I didn't tell you I was a black belt, did I?" he snarled, shaking a fist at Shinichi as he approached him. Shinichi immediately held up his right hand and discharged an anesthesia-covered needle at Alexander. Alexander swayed on his feet and thumped onto the ground. Nonetheless, he did not react to the sleeping drug like many others. Instead, he responded by being weakened and flagged – like the time when Gin was shot at on the rooftop with Miyano Shiho – Haibara's true identity.

Alexander struggled a wobbly forefinger at Shinichi.

"Y-you'll nev-ver get away w-with this!"

Shinichi grinned smugly. "Do you hear that? The faint swirling sound from far away? It's getting louder isn't it? I'm sure you can ascertain very well what sound it is."

"Y-you called the p-police? B-but that's impossib-ble! You don't even k-know wh-where this i-is! And you w-were checked for any b-bugging device!"

"Aah, but unfortunately your subordinates forgot one place."

"W-where?"

Shinichi smirked and reached into his eyes, taking out two transparent lenses.

"Contact-lenses cum GPRS, courtesy of Agasa hakase. When I was heading towards the warehouse, I informed the police force of your criminal group. And they tracked my position here. Fancy your devilish conspiracy being foiled by the very person you were impersonating," Shinichi elucidated complacently.

Alexander gained a mad look and he shook all over with fury. Then, he sighed and sprawled onto the ground in surrender. Shinichi swiftly checked Ran.

"Ran, Ran, daijobu da yo?" Shinichi asked anxiously. "Ran, I-I'm sorry. It's all my fault!"

Ran looked up to him and smiled weakly, a ribbon of blood streaking down her head and down her neck. Shinichi grimaced, his insides churning with guilt and distress.

"Shinichi, I'm fine. Let's get out of here, ok?" Ran inquired, attempting to divert his attention from her injury by wiping the blood away, but only managed to coat her cheeks in the cerise liquid. Shinichi winced. He pulled her up and wrapped her in his embrace, wishing to convey all his suppressed feelings in that hug. Ran reciprocated the hug.

"I understand, Shinichi," Ran whispered and leaned onto his shoulders. "But we really have to go now. Hakase has already gone to find the exit."

Shinichi nodded. Hand in hand, they left, passing by two knocked-out hefty bodyguards on the floor, thinking that everything was going to be alright. How wrong they were!

Surreptitiously, Alexander looked up from the ground, his eyes regaining its nefarious look.

"You don't think I'll let you get away, do you? _If my death can ensure your destruction, then I surely will_," he quoted Holmes fiendishly. Reaching into his pocket, he pressed down on a button.

"Mwahahahahaha..."

--

Shinichi and Ran had just gotten into the elevator when an earth-shattering rumble shook the entire building. Ran slipped into Shinichi's lap.

"What's going on?" she breathed as the overhead lights flickered upsettingly. Shinichi's mouth abruptly parted as realisation dawned upon him.

"Kuso! He must have laid bombs around this building's foundation!"

Ran gasped. Suddenly, the lift gave a terrible jerk as the ropes sustaining the elevator snapped broken. It nose-dived in a vertical line, making its occupiers feeling weightless and out of control. It was like riding a roller-coaster at full tilt. Ran clutched Shinichi tightly in extreme foreboding.

Then they stopped. Suddenly. The brusqueness jolted them off their feet. It was then Shinichi became aware of Ran's bleeding leg.

"Ran!" he gasped, handling Ran's slender leg gingerly. "When did you hurt yourself like this?"

"I-I-"

"You injured yourself when you broke down the metal door, didn't you?" Shinichi voiced, his head bowed with shame. _I'm always wounding her. Always!_

Ran remained silent, verifying Shinichi's suspicions. The air in the elevator thickened unnervingly with tension and stillness. It was a hubbub outside, people screaming and scurrying around in fright as the building fragmented around them. Scores of people had already perished under the crumbling walls and ceilings. But inside the lift, it was as still as the deep blue sea. Like a lull before a storm.

And then Ran erupted a deafening "SHINICHI!", shattering the hush into millions of pieces.

Shinichi looked up promptly in stun, taken aback by Ran's sudden outburst.

"How can you give up at a time like this? Where is the arrogant deduction maniac who is so full of himself, thinking the world revolves around him? What are you doing now, pulling such a face when the world needs you? When I need you?" Ran shot out, her face flushed from the explosion.

"Ran I-"

"Stop talking and start thinking of something! Isn't that what you do so well, the thing you prided yourself so?"

Shinichi, briefly amazed, beamed. Ran, in spite of her injuries, was still thinking for him, giving him the morale he necessitated. She forever knew what he needed. He just loved her so!

"You're right. Baka! What am I doing here moping around?" Shinichi admonished himself. He got up determinedly and slotted his fingers into the crack between the elevator doors. And summoning every ounce of energy he had, he began yanking the door apart. The doors separated a rift, and then sprang close again. He tried for a second time, despite the mounting niggle in his wounded arm. _This is for Ran... For Ran!_

A pair of smooth tapered hands joined his in between the doors. Ran smiled up at him, spurring him on. Together, they tugged, pulled, heaved and dragged until miraculously, the door snapped apart! Wide grins broke out on their delighted face.

"We did it! Yokata!" Ran exclaimed out. Then her face fell again. They gazed all around them forlornly. Every escape route was blocked off by wreckages and craggy rubble. There was no way out, except for, maybe, the large opening in the wall before them. Unfortunately, it led down to dusky eddying waters three stories below. Shinichi gulped as the grisly black waters surged up and down abhorrently, as if they were trying to gush up and swallow them whole, and then relinquished the notion as they descended. He took a few steps back.

"Shinichi?" Ran said gently.

"Yes, Ran?"

"You remember me telling you that I have a lot of questions for you?"

Shinichi nodded, a blush lurking up onto his cheeks as he recalled Ran grasping his arm tightly to her ample bosom and her heart pounding against his skin, not allowing him to leave her sight. Shinichi had smiled then, thinking they would meet again later, and left her. If only he had not absconded then, then perhaps they would not be in this dire situation now.

"Well, I may never get the chance to ask you again-"

"Hey, hey. A moment ago you were telling me not to give up," Shinichi said, lifting Ran's head and gazing profoundly into those perfect blues.

"I know. But this-" said Ran, her face growing scarlet as well.

"I won't give up, will you?"

Ran paused for a moment before smiling gently and shaking her head, her face satiated with adoration at the man she was facing.

"That's the spirit. We'll jump together, right? I believe that, after all that we've been through, we'll survive this. We won't be separated after we've tried so hard. I refuse to be separated from you! Believe me, Ran," Shinichi said, his voice solemn and nudging.

"I believe you, Shinichi."

Shinichi took Ran's shivering hand in his and squeezed it.

"One last question, Ran. How did you know I was in that room?"

Ran beamed innocently up at Shinichi. "I just know, Shinichi. I just know."

Shinichi stared at Ran, her sparkling baby-blue eyes and gentle warm smile, and could not control his longing any longer. He swept Ran into his arms and pressed his sizzling lips onto Ran's smooth ones. Ran was momentarily surprised, but nevertheless gratified as she inclined her head to Shinichi's oncoming ambush. They kissed and kissed, not caring if the world was falling apart around them, the air gradually heating up and engulfing them, the roof crumbling above them, the remote sounds of disintegrating building and the far-flung horrified screams of havoc buzzing in their ears. All that mattered was the feel of lips against lips, the ardour as tongues rolled and intertwined akin to their interleaved pounding hearts, the enjoyment as sultry bodies rubbed together and the breathtaking sensation flooding through them as their hands fervently stroke each other's back. They were breathless, even more so by the choking dust in the air, but they were unwilling to break the connection hanging them together, the connection that shot jets of pleasure through their veins.

They finally wrenched away from each other reluctantly when the ground beneath their feet trembled. They knew it was time. Azure eyes met with azure eyes.

"I love you, Ran," Shinichi avowed at long last, not wanting to have any more remorse in his life as he was very well aware that this plunge would probably conclude his subsistence.

Ran felt the same. "I love you too, Shinichi."

Taking a deep breath, Shinichi said, "On the count to three. One, two, three!"

They leaped simultaneously. Ran squinted her eyes as the frosty wind billowed her long hair behind her, the coldness nibbling at her cheeks. She whimpered a touch, but there was nothing she could do. She fell and fell, succumbing to pure gravity as the murky waters beckoned sinisterly towards her.

And all too sudden, the perilous arctic waters whipped her violently, threatening to freeze her to death. She was rendered unconscious by the ferocious brunt. Feeling her breath decreasing rapidly, she sank and sank into the bottomless river.

And out of the blue, someone tugged her up and gave her the kiss of life. She felt the life-saving air enter her mouth and hit her system, resuscitating her. Her eyes struggled open slowly. It was Shinichi. _It is so like that time..._

_Ran was about to swim to the surface when she was held back by something. She looked down. Her leg was caught under the car her otousan won, hindering her efforts to escape the clutches of suffocating water. She flapped her arms frenziedly, trying to haul herself from the car but to no avail. She gave up, feeling the swamping waters closing in all around her..._

_And all of sudden, a person held a bottle of air to her. Her survival instincts took over as she inhaled profoundly. And she saw Conan – no, Shinichi – suspended in water before her. Shinichi swam down to the car and attempted to lug the car up, but how could he in his pint-sized self? And she saw him starting to drop fatally._

_She could not let him drown, even if that meant that she was the one who would end up dying. She swam up to him and sealed her lips with his, transferring to him whatever breath she had left. And she started descending again..._

Her lungs expanded briskly when she hit the surface, Shinichi's protective arm around her buoying her up. She felt so exhilarated at being exposed to air again!

"Shinichi!" she gasped out when she at last salvaged enough oxygen.

"I know, Ran. We survived!"

Both treading water, they enveloped their arms around each other and recommenced their encroached kiss.

--

**Yesh! I finished it! Oh no, wait, I still remember my tribute to Haibara. Lolz**

--

Epilogue:-

_8 years later..._

Swarms of reporters assembled outside the emergency room, ignoring the desperate pleas of the nurses and attendants to ward them off. They were dogged to get the up-to-the-minute news on the man who had brought about the downfall of the vast illicit organisation that had been deteriorating the ignorant world bit by bit clandestinely, the silver bullet that had rescued the whole humankind. Animated chatters could be heard all over the place until an ear-splitting shriek from inside the emergency room muted them at once.

"Shinichi!" Ran screeched, tightening her grip on Shinichi's hand as an exceptionally strong wave of contraction struck her. Shinichi flinched. He was convinced there were no more intact bones left in his hand.

"Yes, Ran?" he yelped in a high-pitched voice.

"I'm going to kill you!"

Shinichi perspired. It sounded like no idle threat.

"Doctor, how is she?" he asked in concern as his wife gave another blood-curdling scream. "She looks like she's dying!" It was no exaggeration. Ran was pallid, sweaty and scrunching her lovely face up at the severe throbbing hitting her at dwindling intervals.

The doctor just smiled. "She's fine. She's doing great, in fact. Just bear with her a moment longer."

Turning to Ran, the doctor urged, "Push! Push harder!"

"You're so dead, Kudo Shinichi! So DEAD!" Ran shrieked as she gave a mighty push in tandem with an excruciating contraction.

And a strident cry filled the air up with ecstasy. Ran collapsed onto a pillow in lassitude as Shinichi pursed his lips in anticipation – and elation.

"It's a girl!" the doctor exclaimed in bliss at the wriggling newborn in his arms. "Do you want to hug her?"

Both Shinichi and Ran nodded without delay. The doctor grinned at the obvious exultation on both parents' faces.

"Here," he said and adroitly placed the baby in Ran's arms. Ran squealed in delight, all thoughts of murdering Shinichi gone.

The crying baby squirmed and flailed her tiny arms in the air. She caught strands of Ran's hair in her diminutive fists and stopped crying. Then, as if she could sense Ran was her mother, she nuzzled up to Ran and fell asleep with an adorable yawn, Ran's hair still firmly clasped in her fragile hands. Some of the nurses _awwed._

"She's beautiful," Ran murmured.

"Yeah, she is," Shinichi breathed.

"So what are you going to christen her?" a thrilled nurse enquired. Shinichi's sapphires connected with Ran's. Ran nodded, comprehending what was on his mind.

"We'll name her Ai, not Ai for sorrow, but Ai for love (FYI: there are two kanjis for Ai, one means sorrow, one means love. Haibara's Ai is sorrow), to commemorate a very special friend who was full of love," Shinichi stated.

He stretched out a hand and fondled his newborn's soft cheek dotingly.

"Ai, you like the name?" he inquired mellifluously.

And Kudo Ai smiled in her slumber.

**1 Corinthians 13: 4-7, 13**

_Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres._

_Love never fails...And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But __the greatest of these is love__._

--

**I decided to end the chapter in love, because love makes the world go round. I'm writing this fanfic also out of love of DC! Yay, all hail LOVE! -hands out love-shaped candies to everyone-**


	19. 13 Sightless ConanxAi version

**This is a continuation from Chapter 12 ConanxAi version.  
**

**--**

Two figures slept peacefully in separate beds as the dense air draped them in impenetrable darkness and stillness. And suddenly, a sharp inhalation blighted the dense calmness. Haibara's clutch tightened around her bedspread as a bone-chilling, shrill hiss in her nightmare agitated her whole stature.

_Sherry…_ Haibara squirmed.

_Sherry……_ Haibara thrashed.

_Sherry!_ Haibara jolted off her bed as if it were electrically charged, her eyes flying open to reveal two dilated pupils deluged with fear. Sweat doused her nightclothes as she panted jerkily, the grisly images in her nightmarish dream still taunting her. She shivered.

"Haibara?" the little boy at the other end of the room mumbled, recently aroused by Haibara's gasps. He rubbed his bleary eyes. "Genki?"

Getting no reply, he got up and meandered to Haibara's bed. What he saw through the dim light shining in from the window was not a pleasant sight indeed. Haibara was quivering in her bed as if she was having an epilepsy, the aquamarine orbs staring straight ahead unseeingly and the blanket grasped so closely to her it was like she was using it to shield against something she dreaded a lot. Or someone.

Conan was unnerved to see her in that state.

"Haibara? Haibara? Are you sick?" he exclaimed out worriedly, his hand soaring to her forehead. He winced when he felt the bountiful amount of perspiration on her scorching forehead. "This is not good! I'm going to get haka-"

A hand shot out of the protective covering and clasped his hand firmly before he could leave.

"Stay…" Haibara rasped out in pianissimo, her lips barely moving and her figure as motionless as ever.

"Nani?"

"Stay…" "Haibara repeated, this time louder but all the more hoarsely.

The simple word struck Conan profoundly. It was not just the huskiness; it was also the urgency – and neediness – in it. He knew Haibara really needed him by her side.

"I'll stay, I'll stay," he voiced soothingly. He sat down by her bed and compulsively buried her head in his chest, yearning to placate the flimsy girl as best as he could.

"I'll always be by your side. Always."

Haibara closed her eyes at his warm touch, a terrified tear stalking down her cheek. The pacifying rhythm of Conan's heart slowly lulled to composure. Her senses dulled, and she elapsed into a fitful sleep.

Conan gazed down at the girl in his arms, noticing for the first time how well she fit into the crook of his lap. He swept the solitary tear away, Haibara's soft smooth cheek brushing against his finger, and he tinted red spontaneously.

_I don't know why, but it just feels so right to have her with me, like this……_

--

Ran dawdled as much as she could on her way to school, somehow the prospect of returning to school after her lengthy sick leave not as gratifying as it would have been before, well, before Shinichi died. She was no deduction genius like Shinichi was, but she could pretty well guess that she would be bombarded with questions about his untimely demise considering her relationship with Shinichi. As if she needed any reminding of the incident.

She sighed and sneaked covertly into her school entrance, glancing left and right for any signs of her peers, then rebuking herself for being an idiot. _It's not like you can avoid them forever, Mouri Ran. In fact, you have to meet them right after you enter your class, baka!_

She shook her head dejectedly and toddled up to her class, steeling herself for her inexorable fate. Nevertheless, her steps halted at the door.

_I can take it, I can! I can… I……_

She could not bring herself to complete the thought. It was outright lying.

A hand landed on her shoulder, making her jump in startle.

"Eisuke! What are you doing here?"

Eisuke smiled sheepishly at her. "Actually, I've been studying here for a few days already. You remember I told you I've migrated back here from America, right? Well, you see, I still need to study so……" He turned around to give her a full view of his complete school uniform – a dark blue blazer with a green tie and dark blue pants.

Ran slapped her head. "Of course! I'm so, so, so stupid..."

"No, no, you're not! It's totally understandable," Eisuke hastily said, waving his arms in front of him for emphasis. "But why are you just standing here? Everyone's already inside studying."

Ran avoided his gaze, suddenly captivated by her school's floor tiles.

"You are afraid of them asking about Kudo's death, aren't you?" Eisuke continued softly.

Ran kept her eyes on the floor tiles.

Eisuke reached out a hand and squeezed Ran's. Ran finally looked up, smiling gratefully at him.

"You're right, I couldn't face them alone, but now that I have you with me, I think I can do it," she said. A blush crept up Eisuke's face.

"I, ah… I-"

"Ran-chan! You're back!" a man's voice at the other end of the school corridor pronounced, interrupting Eisuke. Ran turned around, only to be engulfed into a man's stalwart arms. She flushed tomato-red.

"Um, Ariadne-sensei, I, um, you know…" she faltered off.

"Oh, ah, gommenasai!" Dr. Ariadne released her immediately. He ran his fingers through his blondish brown hair shamefacedly. "I'm just really glad you're back. Are you sure you're fine already? You can rest some more, you know, if you don't feel up to-"

"I'm fine, I really am," Ran averred. She smiled. "Thanks for the welcome."

"Uh, Ran, we should get going," Eisuke disrupted the conversation with more than a hint of jealousy in his voice.

"Oh, right. Ja ne, Ariadne-sensei."

"See you later."

--

Haibara fidgeted and opened her eyes. It was still dark. She could feel a pair of limbs around her. She smiled and snuggled up to Conan's body, wanting to get more sleep. It was not the most comfortable position, but just the mere fact that it was Conan's torso swept all discomfits away. She had long acknowledged that Conan seemed to have the most astonishing power over her. A simple touch from Conan would make all her fears go away, although she never revealed the fact to anyone.

The torso she was hugging shifted and she heard a loud groan as Conan stretched his appendages. She felt him stiffened marginally, probably because he did not want to wake her up, and a hand feeling her temple for her temperature. Sweetness flooded her at Conan's concern, but she shrugged it off.

_It's merely concern for a friend. He was like that too when Ayumi-chan was sick. Don't get your hopes up. Don't… make yourself disappointed. You know he only loves Ran._

Her heart sank again. She did not feel like being at such proximity to him anymore. Pushing him away, she turned back to her bed.

"Haibara? You're awake?" Conan asked.

"Whether or not I'm awake is none of your business. Now if you would excuse me, I would like to sleep," she answered coldly.

"But Haibara, you need a doctor. We should leave now," Conan urged, ignoring her cool tone of voice. He really did not get her mood swings at all. A moment she could be so nice, another so remote.

"Kudo-kun, it's barely dawn. This can wait. And besides, I don't need a doctor."

"What are you talking about, it's ten o'clock in the morning!" Conan huffed indignantly.

"Then why is it so dark?"

There was a pause. Then Conan spoke hesitantly, "Haibara, i-it's very bright around here."

Haibara snapped her eyes open crossly. "Then why can't I see-"

She gasped slightly.

"K-kudo-kun, you're not just pulling my leg…… Are you?" she mumbled, afraid of hearing the answer. _Please say yes, please……_

"No, Haibara."

Now her sightless eyes widened in shock. She floundered her petrified arms around her, tossing her blanket away.

"I can't see!" she screamed. "I can't see! I'm BLIND!"


	20. 14 Unexpected Comfort ConanxAi version

That was it. The truth that Conan had not dared to believe, the truth that he had not voiced out loud. That those sea-green eyes had lost their vision, possibly permanently.

It really nibbled at Conan's heart to see the girl before him so lost and hysteric. She really had lost a lot in her life, why, oh WHY did she have to lose her sight as well?

"Haibara, please calm down, we don't know for sure yet," Conan said in spite of himself. His usually uncannily accurate hunch told him that Haibara had indeed gone blind.

As he had expected, his words fell on deaf ears as Haibara thrashed on like a maniac, screaming and crying as if she had yet again lost another cherished family member. Tears stung Conan's eyes. He wished so much that he could do something to assuage her anguish, but there was simply nothing he could do.

_God, why let her suffer so much? I really wish… I really wish…_

_I REALLY WISH IT WERE ME!_

The dams burst. Tears flowed mercilessly down his cheeks, but he could not let Haibara know. No, he had to be brave for her. He hastily reached up and rubbed his eyes.

It was a mistake.

Haibara chose that exact moment to spurt from her bed and speed out of the room. Momentarily shocked, Conan stood rooted to the ground. When he finally regained consciousness, Haibara was already out of sight.

"Kuso! Kudo Shinichi, for once in your life, can you not mess anything up?" Conan berated himself before tearing off after Haibara.

_If anything happens to her, I will never forgive myself!_

--

Everything was dark. A complete abyss. It was terrifying, running around without knowing what was in front of you, when the ground would give way.

Now Haibara finally understood what the blind felt like.

Her hangs flung out frenziedly before her, she ran without any particular direction. A couple of times she slipped when the ground was not level, a few times she slammed into an obstacle leaving her bruised and bleeding, twice she heard cars skidding and honking and drivers swearing and once she toppled down flights of stairs.

But she did not care.

She had lost her sight, and for all it mattered to her it meant losing her world. For her whole life, she had relied on her sight for everything. To read other people's bearings, to carry out her meticulous and hazardous experiments, to type on her computer and most fundamentally, to find her way around. And now she had lost it, a true friend that had stuck with her throughout her livelihood.

In her mind, she was as good as dead. And death actually seemed welcoming at that moment. What else did she have to live for? She had no family, no friends and she was living the life of a fugitive. Why did her creation had to fail her? Why did she not just perish under the poison then? Why was God so mean to her? Was affliction her destiny? Her fate forever?

It certainly felt like it.

Her lungs squeezed until it no longer contained air, partly because of all the sprinting and partly because of the maelstrom of emotions swamping her. And her feeble legs collapsed. She sat down, eyes swollen and tired of crying, and hugged her exhausted ankles to her torso.

Having her world metamorphose from vibrant colours to pure darkness devoid of light, her only connection to the outside world was her other four senses – her sense of touch, sense of hearing, sense of smell and sense of taste. The earth beneath her was chilly, she could hear leaves scuffing the floor and crackling in the wind and a foul odour invaded her nostrils. Other than that, it was totally silent. _I must be in some kind of alleyway._

The overwhelming hush brought back all her poignant remembrances.

She still remembered being bereaved of her parents before she had gotten the chance to know them, before her first memory had even formed. It did not make much difference to her, frankly, since she had never known what a life was with parents. All she had then was her oneechan who was only a few years older than her, and some black-clothed men who muted all her childish quirks and comments with a gun barrel. At the young age of three, she had already learnt never to speak when she was not spoken to, and NEVER EVER make any stupid comments.

She had already lost her innocence and sense of humour.

A few years later, the men in black took more away from her. They took her beloved oneechan away and sent her to America. At that time, she cursed herself for disclosing her ingenious mind to the men in black, inducing them formulate the scheme of moulding her into the successor to her otousan's curtailed researchers and experiments and dispatching her to a foreign school. But she had no other choice. The men in black were not to be contradicted.

It was at America she realised the disadvantages of not having parents to stand up for you, to dote on you and sometimes to spoil you. Her schoolmates frequently bullied and intimidated her in every way possible. And she had only herself to defend and vent all her frustrations to. She recalled asking her oneechan why they despised her during one of those extremely rare phone calls from her sister.

_"Oneechan, am I so loathsome that everyone hates me?"_

_"No, Shiho," her oneechan replied lovingly, a trace of worry in her voice, "it's just that they are jealous of you."_

_"Jealous of me? Why would they be jealous of me?"_

_"Because Shi-Ai," Miyano Akemi cited her private moniker for her. "You are prodigious and beautiful. You are perfect."_

Perfect? Haibara almost laughed. She felt anything but perfect then. At the stage when her peers worried about pimples and the opposite sex, she was worried for her and her oneechan's life. Any slight mistake, slight slip on their part would beget noxious consequences. To tell the truth, she would have given up all her brains and beauty in exchange for a simple normal life with a happy family.

But fate was not done toying with her.

She recalled finding out about her oneechan's death. She recalled a question flashing across her mind.

_Is it the end of the world?_

It was like her sole source of joy was brutally snatched away from her. In her heart, her oneechan's life surpassed even her own. It was worse than dying herself.

Having no more light left in her stark existence, she stopped working altogether. In fact, she stopped eating, stopped drinking, stopped feeling and stopped hoping. She could only wish she would stop breathing.

And so she took the pill, craving for release from her bleak dark life and not wanting for the killers of her oneechan to have the mildest satisfaction of terminating her subsistence as well. But instead of executing her, the drug shrunk her. Really, nothing would ever go as she desired.

And presently, she had even lost her sight. Every single hardship life laid on her came pounding on her all at once, causing her retired eyes to recommence their raining.

Suddenly, a pair of warm devoted hands circled around her. Her breath hitched. The touch was oh-so-familiar. _But it can't be……_

Another pair of affectionate arms closed around her, the feeling giving her goosebumps of déjà vu as well. _I… I must be dreaming…_

The heads of those pairs of arms reclined on either side of her shoulders, their hair brushing her face. The scent of their hair… The aroma she missed so much… And the tears came tumbling down all the more.

The two figures seemed to mourn with her as well. After what seemed like an eternity, Haibara felt like she had cried all her angst out. Her chest felt lighter, her breath smoother and her face more relaxed. The two figures liberated their limbs and started to leave.

"Wait!" Haibara cried out gutturally, coveting their companionship longer.

"We have to leave, Shiho," a female voice said regretfully. _Th-that voice! The voice from the tape! The voice I never knew…_

But she still was not sure.

"W-who are you?" she asked, her tone wavering with anticipation.

She could feel someone smile. "Don't you know, Shi-Ai?"


	21. 15 Treatment ConanxAi version

Conan scoured around the roads on his solar-powered skateboard, feeling so anxious he hardly cared as the cars zoomed hazardously around him. He had contacted the Detective Boys through his detective badge, and they were all out looking for Haibara.

_Kuso! Where could she have gone? Now that she can't see, the world is as treacherous as a wildlife jungle! Kudo, come on! Think of something!_

Suddenly, he caught sight of the sunset among the skyscrapers and felt the skateboard gradually slowing down. He swore again.

_Baero, baero! Without the skateboard, it will be harder to find her!_

But nature could not be altered. The sun withdrew lazily, along with it the power of the skateboard. With a swoosh, Conan retracted the skateboard from under him and darted off into the streets, vowing never to give up until he had found Haibara.

--

Conan's legs surrendered after hours of running about fruitlessly. He thumped down onto the ground and leaned against the wall, desperately filling his oxygen-deprived lungs. Rivulets of sweat dripped down onto his shorts, wetting them thoroughly. He slammed his fist into the ground, not heeding the excruciating cracks emitted from it and the drops of scarlet liquid issuing from his knuckles. He thoroughly condemned himself for Haibara's vanishing. But even more, he was fearful that something awful had happened to her.

_Get a grip on yourself, Kudo!_

Summoning the very last vestiges of his energy, he struggled up, his knees juddering under him. And he fell down again.

_I'm so useless! Kuso!_

Suddenly, his sharp ears caught a muffled sound from around an alley. Heart filling with hope, he leaped up with renewed strength and quickly loped towards it. A small kitten jumped down from a heap of garbage, meowing hungrily. His heart plummeted. It was not her.

Crestfallen, he was about to leave when he distinctly heard a voice. A human voice. And more importantly, Haibara's voice! He turned around in agitation, forgetting all his lethargy as he flitted behind the garbage. And there she was, huddled in a corner, her garments torn and bedraggled and her face bruise and stained with tears. But Conan was too happy to notice.

Without thinking twice, he threw his arms around her, hugging her as if he had never hugged her before.

"Haibara! You're alright!" he exclaimed jubilantly. Haibara winced, feeling the air crushed out of her and her injuries stinging.

"Ouch! Edogawa-kun, let me go please. You're hurting me," she responded coldly, despite the delight currently saturating her at Conan's concern.

"Oh! Gommenasai," Conan said sheepishly, a hue spreading on his cheeks. A twinge stabbed his heart as he finally registered Haibara's scruffy state and those aquamarine eyes that did not meet his, instead staring somewhere past his left ear. He had almost forgotten about Haibara being blind in his ecstasy. Brushing all the disturbing thoughts away, he said, "You had me worried. Come back with me, ok?"

And much to his surprise, Haibara agreed, albeit harshly. "Of course I'm going back, I need a doctor, in case you haven't notice."

"Haibara, you've… You've changed," he muttered, perplexed.

"Why? I'm not sardonic enough for you now?"

Conan marvelled at how she could still send a piercingly impassive look at him even when she could not see. He rubbed the back of his head helplessly.

"You're right. You're still the same old you," he responded ironically. Yup, she was back to her old mordant self. Somehow that made Conan absolutely elated.

"Now, will you keep on talking like a gossipy obasan or will you lead the way? Because you seem to have missed the fact that I can't very well _see._"

"Oh, right," Conan said, sheepish for the very second time since he had located Haibara. Really, he could never hold himself before her. "Come on."

And he took her hand, glad that she could not perceive the crimson of his cheeks.

He did not notice in the dark that Haibara was tomato-red as well.

--

"Hhmmm… Agasa hakase, can I speak to you outside?" Dr. Ariadne mentioned delicately, switching off the torch-like eye examiner.

He had received a call from Agasa in school to inspect Haibara's sudden blindness. Coincidentally, Ran was just beside him when he got the information and as a result, she had come as well. At present she was hovering around Haibara's bed waiting anxiously for the result. She gazed at Haibara, fretfulness shining clearly in her baby-blue eyes.

"Whatever you want to say you can say it in front of me," Haibara stated in an adult-replicating voice, startling both Dr. Ariadne and Ran – the only people in attendance that did not know her true identity.

"But-"

"It's ok, Dr. Ariadne. She can handle it," Agasa reassured.

Dr. Ariadne cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Very well, then. First, I would like to enlighten you on the reason for her blindness. There are multiple reasons, actually. One is staring at something for a long period of time continually, most probably TV or computer screen. Another is, err, well, dehydration."

"Dehydration?" Ran asked, not quite understanding.

"Yes, err, well, our human eyes can become dehydrated by crying too much," Dr. Ariadne elucidated and shot a worried glimpse at Haibara. Conan just shook his head dejectedly.

"Ai-chan…" Ran mumbled.

"Um, those are some of the reasons," Dr. Ariadne resumed quickly, "However, the last straw that broke the camel's back was stress. The stress interfered with neuron signals from the eyes to the brain, after some time impinging on the bundle of optic nerves, which ultimately led to blindness."

"Oh…" Ran whispered, bothered by what she was hearing. What could trouble a 7-year-old girl into blindness? She sighed, slightly blaming herself for not taking more care of the little girl.

Conan, furrowing his brows, had a similar thought.

But one supreme inquiry remained. It was Agasa who eventually got it out of their system.

"I-is there a cure?"

The air froze as everyone waited expectantly for the answer.

"Yes," Dr. Ariadne said, much to everyone's relief. "There had been instances where analogous blindness had been cured."

Haibara's heart thumped, however impassive she might have looked. Conan went to her side inconspicuously and squeezed her hand. He opened her palm and silently wrote 'daijobu' on it.

Aloud he asked, "How?"

Dr. Ariadne scratched his head. "There are no medical methods to heal it since it did not result from physical means. But," he hastily added. "There are definite ways treat it. Most vitally, rest. Make sure she gets sufficient rest every day, at least ten hours of sleep each day. No straining your eyes, young lady," he directed his words to Haibara. Haibara nodded sullenly.

"In addition, you need to lower your stress level. This requires help from family members, or close friends. You all understand?"

Everyone orchestrated an obedient nod.

"That's really all I can do to help. I'll come check on her every week, hakase. Take good care of her," he finished.

"Arigato gozaimasu. You have been a big help," Prof. Agasa thanked appreciatively.

"It's no problem."

Ran, who had been watching the proceedings soundlessly, knelt down beside Haibara and smoothened her bangs away tenderly.

"Ai-chan, how are you?"

Haibara closed her eyes and turned away from her pointedly. Ran grimaced. She did not understand why, but the little girl seemed to hate her. Forcing a smile onto her face, she said, "I guess I should let you rest. Sleep well, Ai-chan."

"Shall we leave together?" Dr. Ariadne asked Ran. Ran nodded.

"Conan-kun, look after her, ok?"

Conan nodded and smiled. "I will, Ran-neechan."

--

Two pairs of legs trod steadily on the stoned pavement. A gust of wind blew by, fanning Ran's velvety curtain away from her face. Dr. Ariadne stopped at the sight.

"Ran-chan?" he said.

"Hmm?" Ran looked up at the tall muscular man before him.

"Don't worry," he admonished gently, pulling her up to him and enveloping her whole petite figure in his arms. Ran blushed.

"I know. I'm just-"

"She'll be fine. Really," he placated soothingly.

Ran shut her eyes and hugged Dr. Ariadne back, his strong arms giving her the comfort she so needed then.

"You're right. You're right..."

--

Conan sat by Haibara's bed, surveying her pasty countenance thoughtfully.

"Haibara, don't keep everything to yourself, confide in someone, ok?"

No reply. Haibara fastened her eyes firmly, willing him to leave her alone.

_I want so much to confide in someone, Kudo-kun, but there is no one for me. Ever since oneechan died, I have no one. No one..._

"I will always be here when you need me," Conan said as if reading her thoughts.

_But I will not have you fully to myself. I never will._

"You will redeem your sight, I know you will. I will make sure of that."

_I hate you, Kudo-kun. I really do! I hate you for making me fall in love with you, for drowning me with your tender compassionate words. I hate you for agitating my heart's rhythm, for pulling me so affectionately towards you that I can't resist. For giving me the care and attention I've always pined for, but not giving me your heart._

_Yes, I hate your for loving someone else!_

Her heart skipped a beat and her hands gripped her mattress silently. She had just felt a kiss on her forehead, the warm breath from the kisser prickling her skin. It took her all she had to maintain a deadpan phizog, wishing that her heart would cease fluttering idiotically.

"Bye, Haibara," Conan whispered.

Now she wished her stomach would discontinue their churning at the way he pronounced her name. _And that's not even my true name!_ But her internals whipped on, nonetheless.

She heard soft thuds on the carpet of her room, and she knew Conan was leaving. She really wished he would stay by her side, but she would rather die – or face Vermouth – than voicing that thought out. And she heard the door opened.

"Thank you," she breathed. She was sure he had caught those two so-tiny-yet-so-meaningful words, because she heard the door hinges stop creaking abruptly, and the fading footsteps stationary for a moment.

And she was contented to drift into a fantasy-filled sleep.


	22. 16 Sakura ConanxAi version

It really took Haibara some time to get used to being blind.

The very first morning she woke up from being sightless, she expected to see sunlight in her room. She could feel the warm sunshine on her skin, she could smell the temperate fresh air and she could hear to bustling activities outside Agasa's abode connoting that the sun had arisen high up in the sky.

She just could not see it.

With a pang, she realised how salient her vision was to her, and how she had disregarded it all those years she had been alive. 18 years, to be exact. It was SO human nature to disdain something valuable they always had, just because of the fact that they were always there. It was only at the time of loss they really took notice of it, to appreciate it. But more often than not, the sentiments of indebtedness came too late.

_Is it too late for me too?_

She got out of bed, stumbling a little as she did so, and felt her way to her laboratory – the only place she was sure she could arrive without much obstacles. After all, she had been heading there practically every day she stayed at Agasa's manor. It was a kind of sanctuary to her, the place she buried away her anguish and tears and emotions generally. It was the place she reclaimed her inexpressive composure.

Her marginally shivering fingers landed on something cold and smooth – the metal doorknob. She turned it, and stepped down the stairs charily, her hands never leaving the wall. And much to her relief, she disembarked in one piece on the flat altitude, feeling a sense of accomplishment. A smile that she usually kept hidden from public view crept onto her face, taking in the pacifying effect the room still held on her.

She closed her eyes and ambled instinctively towards one end of the room where her personal computer sat waiting. Her sensitive fingertips swept the keyboard and caressed the little square keys, touching the barely noticeable outcrops on some of the keys. Why had she never detected them before? She realised with a jolt that they were set there for the blind.

_I'm the blind…_ She chided herself. _Is this how I'm going to type from now on? Will I have to learn Braille?_

It was then the vast impact of blindness on her life hit her. She had just dawned upon the fact that from then on, she would have to confront a one-hundred-and-eighty degrees turnaround in her life. She might have to study all over again, start accessing people via different techniques, eat and drink differently… The list went on.

Her heart sank. She could not even be a normal blind kid like others. She would still be hunted down by the black organisation, and she would rather not think the subsequent events that would undoubtedly follow her capture. What was going to happen to her now?

_There really is no place for me in this earth…_

And her death wish raided her being again. She trembled, bowing her head as droplets of sparkling liquid splashed onto the keyboard. Suddenly, someone grasped her hand on the keyboard.

"Come on, Haibara," a voice she recognised as Conan's sounded beside her. "I'm going to show you something."

"Let me go!" she protested, trying to tug her hand away to no avail.

"Here," Conan said and swept her off her feet, carrying her gingerly in his arms. "My, you're really heavy!"

"Let me go!" she objected some more, pounding her fist into Conan's chest, slightly wondering how she was never aware of Conan's remarkable strength before. "Just let me go!"

"Hang on," Conan ignored her and ran towards somewhere beyond.

--

"Here we are!" Conan announced and put Haibara down onto the ground, supporting her as her feet fumbled with the unfamiliar foot base. Crisp rustling told her that she was standing on grass, and distinct tinkling notified her of the presence of a flowing stream.

"Edogawa-kun, I know you consider yourself to be quite intelligent, but you seem to grapple with the fact that I'm BLIND. I don't know where we are," Haibara asserted sarcastically, scowling.

"No, you are the one who had shut yourself down. You're blind, but that doesn't mean you can't see."

"What are you ta-" she broke off when a hand stroked her eyes, shutting her eyelids.

"Now listen," Conan murmured gently. "Can you hear it, the wind gusting serenely around us? Sakura leaves are falling everywhere, the sovereign pink coating the emerald grass, leaving patches of green contrasting beautifully with the pink. Some of them had been caught in the wind and are wafting away with the drift. Can you smell the wonderful sakura blossoms?"

"Yes," whispered Haibara, the breathtaking scenery forming in her mind and distracting her from her current circumstances.

"Among the sakura trees, there is a meandering stream. The water is crystal-clear, jingling merrily as they flow. On the stream is a tiny bridge, bent upwards in the middle. It's made of light wood, and it has no side rails. There's a couple on it, watching as the water pour gaily away, sakura petals gathering at its twists. A robin is flying amongst the trees, shooting in and out of view. Can you hear it?"

Haibara kept silent, listening intently to the shrill twitters of the bird. "Yes, I can."

"Now hold this," Conan said and thrust something into Haibara's hand. "Can you tell what it is?"

Haibara felt the unidentified object fastidiously, careful to examine every last detail. It was glossy, round with a large hole in the middle, with intricate patterns etched into the band.

"I don't know. It feels like half a hand-cuff or something. What is it?" Haibara asked curiously.

Conan laughed, evoking a frown from Haibara. "Sumimasen, I don't mean to laugh. It's just that... It's actually a silver bracelet."

Haibara huffed, still taking offense at Conan for laughing at her. "So what? I'm leaving!"

She threw the bracelet at the place she thought Conan was and started stepping diffidently away, only to be pulled back abruptly.

"But it's for you," Conan said. Unbeknownst to her, Conan was blushing.

Haibara stopped in her tracks.

"For me?" she asked tentatively, not quite sure she was hearing right. Conan was certainly not the kind of person to buy something for her.

"Yes, for you. Do you like it?" Conan enquired shyly.

"I-I-" she stuttered, not quite sure what to say. "Just put it on," she contended finally.

Conan smiled and snapped the bracelet onto Haibara's hand. Haibara reached down contemplatively, her nimble fingers running over the bracelet's engravings. A pleased flush flitted onto her face.

Conan could not take his eyes off her. She had such an innocent expression on – one that she never had. Her eyes, though not reflecting anything, was glistening cheerfully, the blue-green shade complementing her wavy auburn hair strikingly. Her long dark lashes curled upwards, casting a shadow over her beauteous features. Her eyes were western-like – an attribute from her American okasan, surely – and yet her high cheekbones and fair complexion were Oriental. It made for an ideal mix.

_Has she always been this lovely?_

Conan suppressed an overwhelming urge to kiss her. Instead, he twirled on his heels, attempting to clear his thoughts, which he could not quite manage while facing Haibara. He briefly wondered what the fluttery sensation in his stomach was, and why his heart was practically trying to batter its way out of his ribcage. A cool wind blew by, jerking Conan with the consciousness that his cheeks were steaming hot.

_Whoo! What am I doing? Come on, brain, work!_

"Edogawa-kun!" Haibara shouted.

"Huh? Nani?"

"I said 'thank you' like five times already! What were you doing?" Haibara asked impatiently.

"Oh, nothing really. So err… Ready to go?"

"Well, I can't leave by myself, can I?"

"Right. So, this way," Conan said and started strutting away.

"Hello? Take my hand will you? For the very last time, I can't see!"

Conan reddened and took her proffered hand delicately, endeavouring to ignore the softness of her skin. He walked slowly on.

"And, Edogawa-kun?"

"Hmm?"

"Thanks for helping me… see… again," Haibara said.

"You're wel-"

"Of course, I never knew you can be so maudlin," Haibara smirked.

"Cheh! And of course, I should have known you can't be that nice!" Conan retorted back.

The two heads riveted away from each other in annoyance.

They did not spot the grin on each other's face.

Nor did they hear the bristling of the grass when an enigmatic figure in sweeping black overcoat stepped heavily from the furtive shadows, his remorseless eyes burning into their backs, watching their every move.

Conan turned around abruptly, cold sweat breaking out on his forehead and his eyes dilated with alarm. There was no one in sight.

"Is there anything wrong?" Haibara asked, her voice beginning to panic. She knew that reflex so very well. It never bode anything good. Conan brushed away the uneasy tingling running up his spine.

"No, nothing. Nothing at all..."


	23. 17 Starting Over ConanxAiversion

_RRRIIIIIIINNNGGGGGGGGGGG!_

Teitan High School's bell rang, followed by a melee of pandemonium as teenagers scuffled to cram their books into their bags and rush out of the classroom simultaneously. Three teenagers, however, packed their things considerably slower.

"Ran, shall I walk you home today?" Suzuki Sonoko asked, concerned to see the preoccupied state Ran seemed to be in. Although it was barely mentioned around school, the gloominess in the air implied that virtually everyone knew the significance of today. It was the one-month anniversary of Shinichi's death.

"No, I'm good. I need some time alone," Ran smiled wryly.

"Are you sure? Beca-" Eisuke started.

"Yes, I'm sure," Ran replied, the acrimony of her tone startling even herself. "I mean… I want to stay back at school longer ok? You guys go ahead without me."

"Ok, Ran. Ja," Sonoko said and swung her sling bag onto her shoulder before waving to both Eisuke and Ran, winking discreetly at Eisuke and mouthing 'Go for it!' to him. Eisuke gulped nervously, loosening his green tie.

"Ran?" he enquired anxiously.

"I'm sorry, Eisuke, for being so tart just now. It's just that I-"

"You don't need to explain. I totally understand," Eisuke reassured, squeezing her hand.

"Doumo, Eisuke," Ran beamed gratefully.

"I know, Ran, how hard it is to accept that someone very close to us died unexpectedly. My otousan and okasan left before I could say sayonara. It took me a year to really accept that they're gone, that they're not coming back. Not a day passed by in that year without thinking what I should have done when they were alive, how much I owe them," Eisuke lowered his eyes.

Ran's eyes began to water. "He promised… He promised he would come back." She cupped her face in her hands, sobbing uncontrollably.

"But he did, Ran. He's back. He's always there, in our hearts. And he will live on. Just like my parents. I know they are watching over me. And I will never ever forget them."

"Demo… How? How can you remember all those wonderful times you were together and realise that they're gone forever, and not be sad? How can you reminisce their smiling faces and apprehend that you will never see them again, and yet not grieve? I'm not so strong…"

Eisuke cursed Conan under his breath for inflicting this much suffering on Ran. But he knew she had to move on.

"Yes, you are, Ran. You should not mourn because they are gone, but you should rejoice because you once had them. You laughed, you cried, and you had fun with them. And through these memories, they will live on. They will not want us to be sad. They want us to move on."

"I can't…"

"You can, Ran. You can. Because you have us, your family and your friends. And you have me."

"Eisuke…" Ran faltered off. She was really at loss of what to say.

"Ran, I've always like you. I know, you don't think of me that way, but I just want you to know that, I will always be here for you. Always."

"You don't ha-"

"No, but I want to. I want to, Ran. Because I love you."

The words were out. There was no taking them back. Ran gasped slightly in astonishment and Eisuke blushed furiously. The awkward silence between the two adolescents prolonged uncomfortably.

"Eisuke, I'm not ready," Ran finally said, struggling to fight back the flush scorching her cheeks.

"I know, Ran. But you have to move on."

"I understand, I do. But I need some time."

"I comprehend," Eisuke nodded. Giving her a quick hug, he excused himself, leaving Ran in the unusually quiet classroom . She surveyed around her nostalgically.

"It's here… The place I spent the most time with Shinichi. The classroom has not changed, the teachers and students have not changed, I have not changed, but without you, it's no longer the same…"

Ran strolled over to the desk that formerly belonged to Shinichi, chuckling when she saw the scribble Shinichi scrawled on it. It was about trivial things like which teacher he liked better, what he would have for lunch, what subject he absolutely loathed – music, of course – and etcetera etcetera. But it was those menial everyday things she missed most about Shinichi.

_I miss you…_

She left the poignant classroom and made her way to the music room. The corridor was devoid of human presence, and everything was still. She opened the door, stepped in and fingered the antique grand piano.

Lifting the piano cover, she positioned her fingers on the black-and-white keys instinctively, letting her subconscious mind take over. She did not know what she was about to play as she arranged her fingers in the C sharp minor chord, but her yearning for emancipation from her emotional distress led the way. She pressed down, softly yet firmly, the harmonious sound reverberating around the whole room. The second note ensued, and the third, and soon she discovered she was playing the first movement of Ludwig van Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata.

_I remember now._ _ This song was inspired by Beethoven's adoration for the luscious Countess Giuletta Guicciardi. Unfortunately, it was never meant to be, for tragically she was already in a wedlock. At a caprice, Beethoven introduced this piano composition to the world, astounding everyone with its gentle melancholy and distress._

_This music was about the yearning for a love which was abjectly impossible…_

Ironic, she thought. That was exactly how she was feeling. Craving for someone who had passed away. She closed her eyes, fully employing her acoustic senses, allowing the melody to become one with her soul. Her fingers flowed on, piannisimo along the melodious, sorrowful chords. And she lashed down harder, rising towards forte with the anguish of the piece, and tuned down again, the music mellifluous and mournful like a man's lament. She played and played, filling the whole room with lirge, the very sadness piercing her bemoaning heart as she vented all her frustrations onto the piano. And she played the very last note of the first movement, tender, low and sostenuto. Just like how it should be played.

Forlornly…

The walls still echoed the divine yet desolate harmony, but Ran felt radically better. She felt released.

_Maybe Eisuke's right. Maybe I should move on._

She secured the piano cover with a thud and stepped out of the room meditatively. Her fingers twisted and twirled the tip of her tie as her heart battled with her brain – her heart did not want to let go but her brain insisted it was the best for her. She wandered on, the furious combat inside her contrasting with the peacefully thoughtful expression on her face.

_"Shinichi-nichan said… Shinichi-nichan said that he would come back, even if it costs his life! So… So… Please wait for him!"_

_"They do not want us to be sad. They want us to move on."_

_Ran held the clay pencil holder she had made herself, a carving knife in her right hand. The knife approached the unmarred surface of the clay and halted just before it, the tip hardly scratching the surface. Hesitation pagued her, debating whether she was ready to make that decision. But she was determined. The knife plunged into the soft clay, etching the words 'Big idiot deduction maniac, I will wait for you' deeply into it, never to disappear from view._

_"You have to move on."_

_…………………_

She really did not know what she should do. Her heart desperately clung on to Shinichi, but her sanity told her that it would all be in vain.

"Aaahh!"

She covered her ears compactly as if people were arguing around her and squeezed her eyes shut, running straight ahead in aggravation. Before she knew it, she had reached her room.

Her eyes immediately landed on a framed photo on her desk. Two figures stared happily back, laughing at times long gone. She picked the photo up and gazed at it longingly.

_Why can't we be back to those days, when we didn't have any care in the world?_

She clutched the photo closely to her chest, tears trickling quietly down her cheeks. And there she stood for a long time, until her tears had dried. A trembling hand replaced the photo frame face down, pressing over the back strongly, willing herself not to pick it up again.

She sat down by her desk and opened her diary. Turning to a blank page she wrote down:

_August 22_

_It's time I start over._

_Sayonara, Shinichi._


	24. 18 Recovered ConanxAi version

There was a strident clink of breaking glass amalgamated with a nervous yelp coming from the kitchen. Conan, who had been lazily switching from channels to channels on the television, shot up in stun. His quick-witted mind straight away flew to someone.

"Haibara!"

Three steps became one step as he galloped towards Agasa's kitchen, fearing the worse.

_What if she fell down and knocked her head? What if she had fainted? What if she trod into the glass shatters? Or worse, did she scream because someone had kidnapped her? Someone like Gin?_

If he had heard himself then, he would have sniggered at how absurd he was being. But all he could think about then was Haibara. Adrenaline pumping through his veins, he sped into the kitchen.

Haibara was squatting at one side of the kitchen drawers, her hands shivering so terribly it was like she had just seen a ghost. Her face was drained of colour, and her sea-blue eyes dilated in surprise. In front of her were pieces of glass amidst a pool of water.

"Haibara! Daijobu? What happened?" Conan inquired anxiously and stooped down beside her, examining her hands to see if she had cut herself.

Haibara remained silent, still inordinately shaking.

"HAIBARA!" Conan roared to get her attention. The ashen façade framed in coffee-brown hair turned towards him slowly. The quavering lips parted.

"Edogawa-kun, I can see," she whispered unbelievingly. Her eyes lapped up Conan's features hungrily, the visage she had not seen for weeks. Even though the circumference of her vision was still darkened and hazy, she could cogently distinguish Conan's rather chubby cheeks and pointed chin, his cute little nose and most of all, the pair of intense blue eyes currently fixed upon her. She shuddered pleasantly under his gaze.

"What?" the charming lips moved, unable to absorb and comprehend what she was saying.

"I can see," she repeated, this time with more conviction. The fog in her eyes eventually cleared out, and the azure orbs stood out all the more clearly. She could not take her eyes off them, scared that this phenomenon was only temporary, that she might not be able to see them ever again after this.

The enticing lips gaped slightly, widened and curved into an exuberant smile. Joy brimmed to the paramount and he could not contain himself any longer. He needed to share the thrill of having Haibara regaining her sight to someone else. And without thinking what he was doing, he pulled Haibara towards him and pressed his sweltering lips onto hers. Haibara gasped into his mouth, her newly-recuperated eyes widening in surprise. But it lasted only a moment, for the feel of Haibara's silken lips knocked some sagacity back into him and he jerked away instantaneously.

He looked extremely awkward, his face reddening like never before. It was the very first time he kissed someone, and never before had he dreamt that it would be Haibara. But it felt so… _right_.

Conan rubbed the back of his head ineptly. "I'm so sorry, I didn't know what I was doing. I-"

He was cut in abruptly as Haibara slammed him against the kitchen drawers, her lips accosting his in a fiery embrace. Conan, fleetingly flabbergasted, responded rapidly by moving his lips in motion with hers, his hands unwittingly grabbing hold of her velvety hair and tipping her head passionately at just the right angle. Haibara, whose hands had been supporting herself on the drawers to keep from falling into Conan's lap, slipped as Conan's tongue assailed the cavity of her mouth, sending a jolt of pleasure through her veins. The young boy's ardent hands closed in on her body snugly, groping up and down her back.

"I never knew you are such a fierce kisser," Haibara whispered when their mouth separated for the necessity of air, her torso still tightly hugged in Conan's arms.

"Well, now you know," Conan responded heatedly and shoved up Haibara's mouth again, exploring the abyss of Haibara's mouth with his tongue. Haibara rolled her tongue around his and they tongue-wrestled fervently, their bodies grinding against each other as well.

A loud banging of the front door joggled them apart, their lips making a sucking noise at the sudden partition. Agasa's podgy figure appeared at the doorway of the kitchen.

"What are you two doing?" he asked suspiciously, his eyes roaming from their flushed visages to their tousled state and subsequently to the puddle of water Haibara was currently kneeling in.

"Oh, we were just, well, um, you see-"

"We were just cleaning up the mess, hakase," Haibara improvised swiftly.

"The last time I checked, you don't have to genuflect in a pool of water to clean it," he pointed skeptically. "Nor can you wipe up the muddle by leaning on the drawers with that exhausted look _and _without a towel."

The unkempt duo were still racking their very occupied brains for a reasonable excuse when Agasa's eyes suddenly widened larger than his glasses and his mouth formed a perfect 'O'.

"Ai-chan, you can see! You can see!" he yelled in exhilaration.

"Oh, yes, hakase, I just recovered," Haibara said sheepishly, rather ashamed not to have used this distraction sooner. Apparently the discovery of something else had chucked this fantastic news completely out of her mind.

"I'm so glad! We're going to have a celebration. There's so much to plan. We need to buy food, drinks, decorations…." Conan and Haibara lost track of what he was saying as he wandered off, mentally ticking off the things he needed to prepare. Most importantly, he had forgotten all about the dreadfully embarrassing scene just now.

"So…" Conan started, and faltered off maladroitly. He straightened his askew glasses and gulped. Haibara could not help but think that a blushing Conan was a very adorable Conan.

"So what?" she pushed on, albeit she already had an idea what he was going to say. She just wanted to hear it out loud.

"So does this mean that, we're not merely friends anymore?" Conan asked tentatively. Sure, he was always so cool and mighty at a crime scene, and he was the most popular guy in his school especially among the ladies, but whenever it came to voicing his amorous feelings out, he could very well get an F. Haibara slapped her head in exasperation.

"Are you going to ask me to be your girlfriend or what?"

Conan jumped peripherally at her bluntness, a precarious hue pooling his face. "Will you, then?"

Haibara approached him, skimming his lips tantalisingly against hers before drawing away again.

"What do you think?" she inquired seductively, her hot breath prickling Conan's skin and her eyes glazed over with a sultry look.

Conan managed to pull himself together somehow. He closed his eyes and smirked, the trademark smirk of Kudo Shinichi that frequently drove millions of fangirls worldwide insane.

"Of course it's a yes. Who can resist the charm of Kudo Shinichi, or even Edogawa Conan?" he affirmed smugly.

Haibara was about to protest to this outrageous claim when her mouth became victim to Conan's assaulting lips again, his hands tugging her towards him. And she let herself melt in his arms.

_If this is the result of being blind, I would have given up my sight long ago……_

--

Ran was tidying up Conan's room when she spotted a blood-saturated bandage lying around the corner. She picked it up and immediately recalled the wound on Conan's arm. A nagging suspicion surfaced again.

_It all happened after the trip to Tropical Land. Shinichi disappeared, and at the same time Conan appeared! That could be a coincidence, but right after Conan's advent, things began happening. Murders seemed to follow us everywhere, the way murder does with Shinichi. And out of the blue, otousan's deduction became super-accurate. He was even dubbed the 'Sleeping Kogoro'!_

She clutched her forehead as if in much pain. But she would not stop her train of thoughts. No, she obstinately continued, determined to find out the truth.

_That's right! Otousan always gave the impression of sleeping when he was announcing his extraordinarily Shinichi-like deductions. What if he wasn't pretending? What if he really WAS sleeping? And someone was controlling all this? Someone like…… Conan?_

Now she sat down on Conan's bed wearily, her fingers tightening around her temple.

_It certainly wouldn't have been hard, since he is so small now. And now that I think of it, it seems like Conan constantly showed up behind otousan to help him with his deductions! What if he's been using something to help him control otousan?_

And that led her to… Agasa.

_He would have something to do with this, with his gadgets and his relationship with Shinichi. Many times before… Countless, in fact, I've wondered. Conan seemed a little too bright and mature for his age. I just can't believe it! He's been doing stuff – and getting himself involved in stuff – that just isn't normal for kids his age. It just isn't possible!_

Looking at the piece of cloth in her hand, she thought of the puddle of blood where Shinichi supposedly died. A thought flashed through her mind.

Her fist clenching adamantly, she took out her cell phone and dialed Megure's number. A few beeps later brought her to him.

"Hello? This is Ran. Can you do a favour for me, Megure-kebu?"

Megure sounded surprised, but agreed. "What is it you want my help with?"

"I want you to test the blood found at Shinichi's demise with the blood I have here."

--

Conan heard knocking on Agasa's door and got up to answer. He reached for the door knob, but a peculiar tingling along his spine told him not to.

"I'm being silly," he chided himself and opened the door nonetheless. It swung open to reveal Ran. Conan was rather taken aback, more so by grave and earnest expression on Ran's face.

"R-ran-neechan! What are you doing here?" he asked, pasting a childish smile onto his face, hoping to hide his mounting apprehension. He had a feeling he was not going to like whatever was about to come.

And he was right.

"Stop calling me neechan."

"D-demo doshte? You always scolded me for not calling you Ran-neechan," Conan was struggling to keep the placid concealment on.

"Yes, but that was before I know who you truly are," Ran said, her tone impassive. Conan shuddered. The glint in Ran's eyes showed that she…. But it was not possible.

Was it?

The way her fine eyebrows arched seemed to tell otherwise. And what she said next _proved_ otherwise.

"Isn't it so, Kudo Shinichi?"


	25. 19 Brokenhearted ConanxAi version

"W-what are you talking about, Ran-neechan?" Conan quipped in a high-pitched voice, from his nerves or an attempt at feigning childishness he did not know himself.

"Don't, lie, to me," Ran said, her voice wavering with overwhelming wrath. She wheedled out the bloody bandage from a plastic bag and brandished it in plain sight. Conan's eyes widened.

"R-Ran-neechan, you-"

"Yes, I tested the blood with Shinichi's blood, and guess what? They MATCH!"

Conan gasped. Ran had confronted him several times, but before now, she did not have something vital.

Evidence.

But now, there was no denying it. Conan looked up at Ran, desperately trying to read her expression, only to observe Ran's emotive eyes shadowed unfathomably with her soft bangs, her long hair swaying lightly as she turned her face away from Conan. Her red lips remained unmoving. He could not at all tell what Ran was thinking. And this coming from a usually animated person, it betokened no good.

"R-R-Ran…" Conan began, unsure how to continue. His tone was pitches lower now, more than ever resembling Shinichi's voice.

A sudden wind fanned his hair back as Ran knelt down before him as quick as lightning. Now he was parallel to the pure blue orbs.

And he saw sparkling tears.

Ran reached out a hand and caressed Conan's cheek, staring deeply into his azure eyes. "Why didn't you tell me?" she said, unable to diminish the accusing tone. Blue eyes searched blue eyes.

"I-I… I was trying to protect you…" Conan explained, sadness swamping him to see Ran so distressed.

"Protect me? Protect ME?" Ran exclaimed, her voice bordering at hysteria. "You want to protect me by FAKING YOUR DEATH? Protect me from what exactly? From a lifetime free from regrets?"

"No, no! I-" Conan struggled to explicate, his hands waving hastily in front of him.

"Or you just don't think I'm important enough to have your explanation! After all these time… We grew up together, Shinichi. 17 YEARS, for goodness' sake! And you don't even bother to tell me you've been shrunk!" The voice ascended into the madness category. Ran's whole figure was trembling, and tears were beginning to develop into a puddle on the floor.

Conan touched Ran's shoulder, feeling her recoiling immediately as if he were a disease. "Ran, please listen to me!" he implored.

"Why should I? When all you had told me were nothing but lies?" she shot out, her eyes acquiring a feral gleam.

"I never lied about one thing. I LOVED YOU!"

Silence.

The two silhouettes gaped at one another, shocked beyond belief. The world seemed to be spinning nauseatingly around Conan as he toiled to collect his thoughts.

After an eternity, Ran tentatively raised a quivering hand, her face still satiated with flabbergasted skepticism. But she swooped down on Conan nonetheless, pulling him into an intense hug.

Conan reciprocated the hug.

--

Haibara, working diligently in her laboratory now that she had recovered her eyesight, gave a cry of rapture when the millimetre-sized white mouse before her expanded into its original size after consuming a pill. And it showed no sign of telescoping again.

"I did it! I did it! He would be so delighted!" she shouted in glee, clapping her hands together.

However, her sharp ears caught some din coming from outside. Something that sounded like 'I love you.' Her torpid curiosity was uncommonly aroused.

_What's going on? Could it be… He's practising how to proclaim those words to me?_

Giggling like she never did, she pranced up the stairs in high spirits, the APTX 4869's antidote pinched between her fingers.

_He can say those words to me when I show him this._

She opened the door, frolicked blithely towards the dining room with an amicable grin gracing her features, conjuring up millions of expressions on Conan's face when she showed him the remedy to their 'reduction' problem in her mind. She bobbed gaily into the dining room.

The sashaying ceased.

The grin vanished.

She stood motionless, taking in the embracing outlines before her. The pill slipped from her growingly sweaty finger, exuding a seemingly ear-splitting hullabaloo as it bounced and twirled on the floor. But still the two figures did not notice, their flushed cheeks touching as their arms tightened around each other.

Haibara's heart stopped beating, as frozen as its owner was. And together, they slowly melted. A drip of tear journeyed from the aquamarine eyes to the end of her dark long lashes, dangling there as if refusing to leave. She started breathing again, her lungs expanding and contracting at an alarming rate. The words 'I love you' echoed hollowly in her ears as she put two and two together. As enchanting as those words had been, as dispiriting as they were now.

She twirled on her heels, scampering out through a back door, crushing the silent pill, the source of her delight not too long ago, into an annihilated pile of pulp very much like its owner's present heart. And still the two figures did not notice.

Haibara was gone. Possibly forever.

The only thing that marked her previous presence was the macerated capsule lying pitifully on the floor.

--

They finally let go of each other. Their eyes met again, but this time tears did not mar either one's eyes.

"Ran I-"

"Sshhh. You don't need to say anything. I know that you don't love me anymore," Ran said surprisingly calmly. Conan raised his eyebrows in stun, especially at the smile playing on Ran's lips.

"How did you-"

"You said 'loved', not 'love'. You're not one to make this mistake," Ran elucidated simply, as if she was saying something as simple as one plus one equals to two.

"And you're ok with that?" he asked tentatively.

Ran beamed. "Yes. But I still want to hear your explanation. Right after you tell me who the lucky girl is."

"Huh?" Conan said, a look of confusion on his countenance.

"I can see it plainly on your face. You're in love with someone. Who is it? Ayumi-chan? Hey wait! It's Ai-chan, isn't it?" Ran deduced, a contemplative finger on her chin.

"You're crazy!" Conan declared, blowing his bangs to stress his indignation. But a blush crept up to his cheeks anyway. Ran elevated an eyebrow in askance, her lips curving into a mischievous smile.

"So it's Ai-chan after all. Ara, I should have known. It's so obvious you're head over heels in love with her, the way you comforted her when Ariadne-sensei checked on her," Ran teased.

"So who is it with you?" Conan retorted. Ran blushed.

"What are you talking about?" Ran laughed and waved her hand to emphasise how idiotic she thought the question was.

"You're not the only one who can see through me at once. I can read you like the back of my hand as well. We grew up together, remember?" Conan smirked. Ran thumped the top of his head.

"It's none of your business!" she snapped, then chortled. "Aahh, seeing you being shrunk gives me an authoritative sense over you. It's payback time, Shinichi, for every stunt you pulled on me all those years," she chuckled puckishly.

"You wish! I may be small, but I'm still smart!"

"Oh, still the king-sized ego, huh? Well, don't forget, I'm your neechan. You HAVE to obey me."

"Hmpff!"

They both guffawed.

"This is so like the good old days…" Ran sighed nostalgically.

"Yeah…" Conan agreed.

Their eyes connected again. Conan, his eyes large with pensiveness, and Ran, a wistful smile around the corner of her mouth.

"We would have made such a good couple. But I guess it just wasn't meant to be," Ran murmured.

"That's how life is. C'est la vie! You know, I was just about to profess my love for you when I got shrunken. It's fate. We were never meant to be…"

Still those sapphires penetrated each other. There was a long, poignant pause, as past memories flitted through their minds. Arms encompassed each other simultaneously. But this time, the hug denoted something else. Something different.

"Farewell," Ran whispered, biding adieu to every single romantic sentiment she had for Shinichi.

He understood, and sealed his eyes.

"Farewell."

--

He roamed around the streets and sniffed the air. It reeked with the stench of about-to-be-spilled blood. He sneered. Revenge was near, and he knew it. He could feel it in his bones.

Polished black shoes stepped portentously on, occasionally halting, shuffling and trod on again. The click of its low heel rang gloomily in the deserted area, lit only by dim streetlights. He turned around a corner, and saw his prey.

Shivering in the cold. So…. _pathetic._ He had been awaiting this moment for a long time since he tracked down her whereabouts. A moment when she would be alone. Cold. And afraid.

He marched slowly in tempo towards his prey. He saw her jerk her head up suddenly, fear cramming those large blue-green pupils. He leered, liking what he saw.

He bent down to her, his proximity seeming to terrify her tremendously. A sharp inhalation broke the hush.

The thin lips moved.

"Sherry."


	26. 20 Captured ConanxAi version

Conan felt light years younger.

The burden on his chest was finally eradicated, now that he no longer needed to hide his identity from Ran. And he had at long last twigged his feelings. Now he knew who he really loved.

Haibara. Or in all truth, Miyano Shiho.

Conan had never displayed his turmoil of conflicting emotions to Haibara before for fear of wounding her. He did not know how he really felt about her – and Ran – before now. After all, he had had a crush on Ran for years, and that kind of deep-rooted affection was not about to be gotten rid of easily. But after his confrontation with Ran, he ultimately realised that when he simulated his death, he had come to terms with the fact that he and Ran was never going to flourish into anything more than bosom friends. Most importantly, he had opened his heart to someone else, someone who had always been there with him. Someone who needed him tremendously.

Haibara was the one who comforted him when he was feeling sad about Ran. She was the only one who could share his anguish at being shrunk. She was the one who could not live on without him. And he had come to grasp that he could not live without her too.

Now, he just ached to share the wondrous news with her! That he really seriously extremely loved her!

He still remembered when he first met her. A cute foreign-looking girl who transferred to Beika Elementary School shortly after he did. She looked as normal as any other 7-year-old girl, perhaps except for her somewhat matured and aloof attitude. He did not think anything more about her then.

But her presence forced itself on him more and more that day. First, she mentioned her address, which sounded awfully familiar to his ears. Then, when he was endeavouring to shake off the Shounen Tanteis on a case, she was the one who saw through his ruse at once. That very night, she gave a demonstration of her flawless aim in shooting, alleging to Megure as an 'accident'. Still, he thought nothing more about it.

Until she confided her true identity.

Knowing she was an ex-member of the Black Organisation, and even the inventor of APTX 4869, the drug which shrunk him, he was filled with horror – and repugnance – at her. He had slated her that night, lashing out what a despicable person he thought she was for doing the things she did.

He cringed. Guilt hammered on his conscience for condemning Haibara unduly. She did not have a choice, after all, and he could not imagine the self-reproach she had carried all those years. And to hear him censuring her like that, it must have broke her heart.

If only there was some way to make up to her. He had risked his life to rescue her a couple of times, once during a bus-hijack incident, and once when she was trapped on the rooftop with Gin. However, they were not enough. How could he repair the damage he had inflicted on her feelings? How could he compensate for her lack of love in her entire life? There must be some way…

And he silently avowed.

_I'm going to love her with all my heart for as long as I live! Forever and ever, I will only love her and only her._

Determined to show her how much he cared for her right away, he loped into Haibara's den, expecting to find her there working faithfully on her computer. But she was nowhere to be seen.

_Eh? That's weird._

An atypical prickle ran up his spine, but he brushed it off immediately.

_She can be somewhere else in this manor, Kudo, don't jump at the slightest shadow!_

He jogged, possibly a little edgily, around the manor. But still there was no sign of Haibara. Now the prickle augmented into a bristle and a heavily coiled sensation developed in his stomach. The forehead knitted into a deep frown.

_Where could she be? Haibara… Please be okay…_

Something whitish on the floor caught his attention. He knelt down to examine it.

_This, this is… _ He swabbed the diminutive mound of white dust with his little finger and sniffed it. A ray of light flashed in his mind coupled by the dilation of his pupils and a ragged inhalation.

_This smells exactly like the antidote! Haibara!_

The little grey cells began slogging furiously. He instantly surmised that something must have happened to Haibara, seeing as the pill was ground to derisory powder on the floor. He could only hope that that something did not have anything to do with a certain blonde man in black.

A hostile click behind his head confirmed his worst suspicions. Something cold, hard and round was shoved into the back of his head. He did not need to turn around to know what was wielded to his head, or who was plying it.

"Gin!" he snarled out.

"Aahhh, I see little Sherry has informed you all about me. I hope they were pleasant comments," a superficially amicable voice said behind him.

Conan almost spat on the floor, rage and anxiety coursing through him. "I already knew your name long before I met Haibara. Where. Is. She?" he bit out.

"Haibara? I'm afraid I'm not acquainted with the name," the voice mocked, deliberately trying his patience. Conan felt like punching Gin in the stomach over and over again like a sandbag.

"Where is Sherry?" he reiterated, deciding that ensuring her safety was more imperative than his wrath right now. "What did you do to her?"

"Oh, you mean Sherry. Well, it's safe to say that she got what a traitor deserves," he said, a malevolent laugh following his words.

Conan's heart plunged at those words. _What could he mean by that? Is Haibara…_

He could not bring himself to finish the sentence. A cry caught in his throat as he tried his hardest to force it down. The lead weighing down in his chest prompted him to squeeze his eyes shut, averting tears from gushing down his cheeks. Even so, a trickle escaped from his eyelids and flowed wretchedly down. His whole body trembled at the peaking sorrow in him.

When those azure eyes reopened, they were glimmering with vehemence. His hands balled into fists as he bit down on his lip viciously.

"Gin! I'm going to bring you justice if it's the last thing I do!" he roared.

Gin chuckled derisively. "You're welcome to do so, if you can. Now don't worry, your sweetheart is still alive, although barely."

Conan's head jerked up at those words._ Haibara… She's still alive…_ He wanted nothing more than to shout out loud with joy. But he knew very well that when Gin was through with the both of them, it would be nothing short of a miracle if they were still breathing.

But Kudo Shinichi was never one to lose hope.

"Bring me to her!" he yelled.

"My thoughts exactly. Now, I'll lead the way. Don't try anything funny, my finger is itching to press down on the gun trigger and if it does, well, it's bye bye to the eminent high school detective, Kudo Shinichi then."

Conan's blood boiled zealously at those words, but his wish to see Haibara was even greater.

"Fine. As you said."


	27. 21 Burnt ConanxAi version

A weird swirling sensation in the head, uncontrollable rolling of pupils and a severe throbbing back in the head prodded Conan gradually back to senses. He struggled to clear the darkness before his eyes away, and heaved his eyelids up. He closed them immediately, feeling tremendously lethargic from such a small action. Nevertheless, he tried again, yanking the blinds before his eyes open.

Darkness.

Nothing but darkness. Darkness so overwhelming Conan wondered for a second whether his eyes were really ajar. He instinctively attempted to raise his hands, one to his eyes, another to his pulsating head, only to be held back by some kind of binding around his arms. He gasped, to discover furthermore that his mouth was taped shut. The only mobile features of his countenance – the sapphire orbs – dilated in alarm.

_What happened...?_ He winced at the intense tinging in his head. _I... I was knocked out by Gin... Where am I?_

A series of vigorous tussling and thrashing about followed. Now Conan was sure that he was trussed all over, even his legs. He could not move at all.

Minutes wore by, and Conan felt his limbs growing stiffer and number by the moment. He was lying on his right, his cheek pressed into a rough surface while his body suppressed his right arm, blockading all circulation there. His knees were folded up and tied to his body. All in all, it was extremely uncomfortable.

But Conan was too distracted to notice his unpleasant posture.

His mind kept digressing to a certain little girl with silky auburn curls and striking turquoise eyes, praying to God that they – or at least she – would get out of this alive. He felt his stomach churn and twist, his heart beating out of rhythm every time the girl's contour crossed his brain.

_I have to save Haibara…_

A sudden flicking sound ensued by the materialisation of a ball of flame among darkness magnetised Conan's attention instantly. It was a ghostly sight, a detached flame floating in nothingness. He squinted, barely making out a match at the base of the flare and the merciless outline of the person holding the match.

Gin.

Conan glared, sending him a ferocious look. Gin was leering, one corner of his mouth twitching upwards to bare two rows of razor-sharp teeth which were so white they reflect the match's blaze eerily. Under the flickering light, his silver blond hair appeared almost red in colour, rendering him all the more maniacal.

But what captivated Conan's attention were his eyes.

They were gray, the colour of mercury. Two dots of pure silver, satiated with such wildness they were downright feral. There was nothing humane about them.

And a tragedy usually occurred when that particular look appeared.

Gin paced towards him, his steps echoing dully. Conan started lashing about again, adrenaline pumping through his veins as his nemesis approached him. If anything, that seemed to delight Gin even more.

He bent down to Conan, his face so near to Conan that Conan could feel Gin's oddly cold breath on his sweaty skin.

_Heh. What can be expected from a man with no heart? A man who was cold-blooded in every way?_

Still wearing that infuriatingly complacent smirk, Gin hissed, "You want to see your girlfriend?"

Despite his antipathy towards Gin, Conan found himself nodding vehemently, his spirits lifting mildly at the thought of seeing Haibara.

Gin sneered obnoxiously. "Are you sure? I warn you, it won't be a pretty sight."

Conan felt like bestowing Gin's head with a mighty kick. He trounced towards him, jerking his body at him in an effort to hurt him somewhat. Needless to say, he failed miserably. The only thing he succeeded in doing was to add to the enjoyment of the man in black at seeing his predicament. Gin laughed, tauntingly.

"There, there. I'm giving you what you want. Why act so aggressive towards me?" he mocked. Then, with a flaunt of his hand, he waved the match at one corner of the murky place. Conan saw, for once, that the walls and floor of the place were wooden. But that observation was immediately pushed aside at what he saw recumbent on the floor.

Haibara's stature.

She was bequeathed with the same treatment as he was – bound and gagged. But she was visibly much worse off than him. Blood swathed her clothes, ripping open at parts to give a vile display of the deep round gashes underneath – from experience Conan identified them as bullet wounds – which meant that there were probably several bullets lodged in her fragile body this instant. Ribbons of blood were flowing copiously onto the floor, and Conan could see that the wooden planks were so drenched that blood had seeped into them. A violent twinge of his internals prompted whatever he had consumed to regurgitate upwards, choking him.

"HAIBARA!!" he felt like screaming out, instead emitting something that sounded nothing more than a groan. He stomped his legs on the ground, twisted his body over and over again and tried with all his might to inch towards Haibara. And by some miracle, he actually managed to reach her.

Up close, he saw Haibara's pupils dilated with fear. The most fear he had ever seen.

His eyes started stinging.

Haibara was so terrified she did not even seem to be aware of his presence. Instead, she stared into oblivion, her eyes unseeing – very much like when she was blind.

Dr. Ariadne's words resonated in his eardrums. _Congratulations! She's cured, but take notice, the blindness may return if she undergoes a traumatic event again. And it will be much harder to heal the second time…_

_Haibara…_ Conan closed his eyes and bowed his head in shame. _What if she's blind again…..? I… I'm useless… I cannot protect her…_

A loud spine-chilling hilarity suspended his thoughts.

"Now, I'll let you guys have a little… tête-à-tête, shan't I? Here, I'll remove the tapes," Gin derided in feigned politeness, leaning down and tearing the tapes away from Conan's and Haibara's mouth rapidly, educing whimpers of pain from the both of them, much to his amusement.

"Ahh… Now that's more like it. I'll leave you two alone now." He walked away, carrying the only source of light with him.

As soon as Conan heard a slamming of door and subsequent clinking of locks, he yelled, "Haibara! Haibara! Answer me!"

Haibara appeared to register his shouting after a while, and she turned her right ear towards him – a further indication that she might have become blind.

"K-Kudo-kun?" she breathed

"Haibara! It's me! It's me!" he exclaimed, delight flooding him at her response – however frail she might have sounded.

"You're here…" she wheezed out disbelievingly, her voice scarcely a whisper. And much to Conan's bemusement, he heard her starting to shuffle away from him fervidly, wincing every time the ropes grazed her injuries.

"Haibara. Stop it!" he bellowed, unable to withstand her pained cries anymore. "Why are you doing this? Why are you moving away from me?"

"Go away!" she screamed as forcefully as she could. But the bullets have harmed her body inordinately, and she could not as much as speak in normal volume, what more to say crawl away from Conan. She gave up, her head landing on the wooden planks with a thud.

"Why, Haibara? What did I do?" Conan inquired, anxiety gripping his heart. He could not see Haibara, but from her wavering tone, he deduced that she must be crying.

Silence ensued, only interrupted by stifled sobbing. Conan wanted to hug her, tell her sorry and sorry again, but the words choked in his throat.

There was the sound of something thrown on the ground outside, and suddenly everything around them flared up, engulfed by crackling fire. Conan narrowed his eyes in abrupt realisation and ire.

_Gin! He wants to incinerate us alive!_

The bound hands clenched furiously, but everything seemed hopeless. He was well aware that they were most likely going to die.

"Haibara…" he finally blurted out, "I don't know what I did. But I'm sorry…"

Haibara cried on, hardly giving any attention to the heat creeping towards her. Her loved one broke her heart, her whole body was so painful she had grown deadened, and she did not care anymore.

Not anymore.

She steeled her heart and ceased her sniffling. Closing her swollen eyes, a lone trickle ran down her tear-stained cheeks. And she stopped feeling altogether.

_I should have done this a long time ago… That way, I would never have gotten hurt…_

She shut down her hearing, her senses, and her heart. Nothing would bother her anymore.

Nothing……

"Haibara, I love you!" Conan screamed. The three words penetrated Haibara profoundly. She turned.

"W-What did you s-say?" she whispered, feeling her heart progressively melting.

"I love you! I love everything about you! You are my heart, my soul, my mind. I can't live without you, Haibara. I can't. Please don't ignore me," Conan pleaded.

A burning wood clanked down, dangerously missing his legs by millimetres. Heat edged up on the both of them, and they started sweating profusely.

But they were too engrossed with each other to notice.

"Y-You mean it?" she panted, her lungs squeezing from the lack of oxygen – and anticipation at his answer.

"Yes."

A few more woods started collapsing on them, nearly hitting them head on. Conan's heart felt like bursting, desperate to savour his last moments with Haibara. He summoned every strength he had and sidled towards Haibara. Now they were lying side by side.

Haibara felt his body against her, and leaned closer for comfort. Her head found its way on his thumping chest, and their heartbeats synchronised to each other.

"I love you too," she whispered extremely softly yet ever so firmly.

And in spite of their ominous doom, a smile crept onto Conan's face. Their lips gravitated each other, meeting each other with a kiss.

--

Two forms in black stood outside the burning building, watching the fire consuming it merrily. The blonde smirked, relishing the taste of revenge.

"Aniki, congratulations on giving retribution to the traitor," a short stodgy man with sunglasses and a bowler head addressed the blonde from behind. The blonde turned his head around, and even from his profile a savagely peccant grin was evident.

"The boss will be pleased. Come on, we'll leave now."

With a sweep of their black garments, they departed.

A glint amongst the trees tailed them silently.


	28. 22 Funeral ConanxAi version

It was a stark day.

Rain fell in mellow sprays onto vast areas of lacklustre grass as bleak clouds gathered over a horde of people wearing sheer black, holding black umbrellas in the westernised graveyard. There were two sizeable rectangular apertures in the ground before them where soil had been removed.

For the child-sized coffins currently placed next to them.

"We will forever remember Kudo Shinichi as the remarkable person who had been through so much, yet retain his ingenuous mindset that there is, and forever will be, only one truth. In his regrettably short lifespan, he had inspired and taught us, his elders, so much about life. There will never be another one like him again. May he live on eternally in our hearts, our souls and our minds," the priest cited while the multitude of people around him brushed away the tears forming at their eyes. Two people were especially agitated – Conan's – or rather, Shinichi's parents.

The priest continued. "Miyano Shiho had a deplorable past…"

Ran tuned out, her heart weeping silently as she huddled closer to a shady tree.

_Shinichi's dead. He's DEAD. He's really... dead... Really...  
_

Wretched tears tumbled down her already tear-stained visage as she recalled the day she had found out about Shinichi's death…

_Ran was cooking in the kitchen when the detective agency's phone rang shrilly. She turned off the stove and wiped her hands on her apron before picking it up._

_"Hello?" she answered. And to her amazement, Megure's voice sounded on the other end._

_"Ran-chan? I… We… Need your help on something," he said gravely. Ran lifted her guard, at the aberrant situation and the asceticism of his tone._

_She gripped the phone tightly and tentatively inquired, "On what?"_

_What she heard next practically gave her a heart attack._

_"Ahh… O-On identifying Conan's body," he finished austerely._

_The phone slipped and collided onto the floor with a crash. The world started whirling dizzily around her, but the only thing her mind could register were the words 'Conan's body'. Her knees gave way, and she crumpled down, her lips trembling disbelievingly._

_Megure's growls over the phone caught her attention, and with shivering fingers she picked up the phone and responded, "I-I'll b-b-be th-the-there."_

Undertakers hoisted the coffins up and descended them gingerly into the yawning cavity while every eye followed steadfastly. She saw Kudo Yukiko's eyes close briefly and she tipped backwards into Kudo Yusaku, who propped her up before she could faint. Their eyes met, two pairs of orbs mirroring incalculable grief.

She saw Satou Miwako turn around abruptly into Takagi Wataru's embrace as the coffins disappear from sight into the hollow, subterranean gaps. He gave the impression of being in somewhat a daze himself, his eyes wide with blankness.

She saw the Detective Boys in unanimous formal black garments, crying flagrantly at the demise of two of their members. Yoshida Ayumi wailed the hardest, her innocent eyes looking swollen from days of snivelling incessantly. The two tall boys patted her back consolingly, though they looked like they required consoling themselves.

She saw her classmates glancing at each other desperately, hoping against hope that this was another fake death pulled off by the notorious Kudo Shinichi. But there was the proof before their eyes, the two bodies now buried deep within the grasps of earth. Several girls were sobbing despondently, their first crush lying dead before them.

She saw Agasa standing solemnly at one side, for once appearing so weary and weather-beaten that he appeared years older than he really was. His wispy grey hairline was receding palpably, and his figure looked thinner than usual.

She saw all of them glimpsing at her from the corners of their eyes, watching for her reaction. She retreated deeper into the dense tree's shadows away from their gazes, her stature hugging the tree's bark despairingly.

_She arrived at the morgue, and gasped at the sight before her. Two burnt and shrivelled up corpses rested on top of the ice-cold trays, their cadavers so charred and distorted there was no way to distinguish their features. But then her eyes landed on something on the left corpse. She bit down hard onto her lower lips, and a strip of fresh crimson blood dripped down her chin._

_She did not notice._

_Her hands reached out onto the corpse's wrist and inspected the cremated object on it. It was a watch. More specifically, Conan's watch. There was no mistaking it. It was one of a kind._

_She let go of the watch as if it were on fire, her eyes wide with horror. And she sped out of the morgue._

_Realisation dawned appallingly on her._

_Shinichi was gone._

A hand grasped hers out of the blue. She turned in the tree's shadow, and saw Eisuke's perceptive eyes piercing into her.

"Ran…"

Ran opened her mouth, but no words came out. Compulsively, she buried her head into Eisuke's chest, tears gushing down her cheeks like water out of a broken dam. They oozed into Eisuke's black shirt, some of them dribbling onto the polished black buttons of Eisuke's shirt, dangling there for dear life.

Eisuke squeezed her torso soothingly, whispering, "Remember. I will always be here for you."

Ran nodded submissively into his trunk, her hands clenching Eisuke's shirt at his back.

"Thanks," she murmured.

--

The ceremony ended, but still the crowd was not willing to disperse. They found it hard to believe that Edogawa Conan, the lovable boy who pranced around with that irresistibly childish smile on his face was, in fact, the renowned high school detective Kudo Shinichi. The reason given to them was that Shinichi had consumed the wrong medicine accidentally and was shrunk into a child. He hid his identity because it was highly complicated and he did not want to become a white mouse for mad scientists. The same goes for Miyano Shiho, more known to them as Haibara Ai. And as a result of the medicine, they expired before their time.

Only a select few was privy to the bare truth. Kudo Yusaku and Yukiko – of course – and Ran herself, together with Agasa, Satou, Takagi, Sonoko – who might seem to be a blabbermouth, but a loyal kind-hearted friend in truth – Megure and Eisuke. Ran decided that the Detective Boys were too young to be exposed to the grisly reality of their friends' death.

These people were the ones who decided that it was better to bury them using their genuine names, as the Black Organisation might suspect something if a proper burial was not given – and that they could not bear to lie about their identities even to their death. They were also the ones who hatched those deceptions to the public, telling everyone that it was what Conan informed them about his 'shrunken' misfortune. That way the Black Organisation would not suspect anyone else of knowing about their existence.

Agasa stood stone still for a long time, staring at the mounds of freshly piled dirt before two contemporary tombstones. He did not even bother to take cover under an umbrella, and the light splashes doused his attire in time. When he finally moved, he approached Ran.

"Ran-chan?" he croaked out, enlightening Ran to the emotional turmoil inside him.

"Yes, hakase?"

"I'm migrating to Canada next week. To take a break, you know, from everything that has happened here," he notified. Ran's lips parted marginally before tugging them into a fatigued smile.

"I understand, hakase. Have a safe trip."

Hours later, the assembly at long last disbanded. The Kudos left, and Eisuke, holding Ran protectively on the shoulder, departed as well.

The rain ceased.

--

A month passed by unceremoniously. The gloomy mood around school rose week by week, and now Teitan High School and Beika Elementary School recouped their light spirits to some extent. Eisuke and Ran were strolling back to Ran's domicile.

Their steps broke.

"Bye, Ran," Eisuke said. Ran smiled.

"Bye." She twirled on her heels and started pacing up the stairs leading to her home when she barely caught Eisuke's words behind her.

"I love you…"

It was so subtle, so faint, that Ran wondered for a second whether she really heard it, whether it was just a draft of wind playing tricks on her eardrums.

But somehow she knew.

She turned around and saw Eisuke gazing up at her wistfully. He shook his head quickly, a blush tinting his cheeks when Ran caught him gawking at her.

But then he saw the grin playing on her tempting lips. The rose petals moved.

"I love you too."

Leaving a flabbergasted him under the stairs, she cavorted upwards and into her abode. She threw her bag onto a nearby chair and plopped herself into a couch, giggling whenever Eisuke's amazed face with his agape mouth crossed her mind.

_Giggling feels good. I haven't giggled like that in a long time. Ever since Shinichi's…_

The phone rang, jolting her up in surprise. She leaned over and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Ran." Ran's heart skipped a beat.

_The voice… No, it can't be…_

"You still remember me, your childhood friend Kudo Shinichi?"


	29. 23 Light ConanxAi version

Ran let out an audible gasp. Her eyes widened and her eyebrows twitched jerkily as the person on the other end introduced himself as Kudo Shinichi. Thousands of questions flitted past her mind, overwhelming her so much she could not manage to get one single word out.

"Hello? Hello, Ran? Are you there? Hello?" the shockingly familiar voice beckoned. Still Ran remained taciturn, her mouth agape but not a single word materialising.

After what seemed like an eternity plus one second, Ran choked out, "S-Shinichi? B-But... You're dead."

The person on the other end chuckled, making Ran feel rather dense immediately.

"Yeah, well, this is the ghost speaking," Conan, or so it appeared, teased.

Previous astonishment were driven out and replaced by testy indignation as Ran clenched her free hand. She raised her fist in front of her and almost walloped it at the phone receiver.

"IDIOT!" she hollered, sounding extremely intimidating even over the phone. "You had better tell me what's going on right this second!"

Conan distanced the phone from his ear as Ran shrieked, only reinstating it after Ran's voice died down. "Ok, ok. There's no need to get so touchy."

"Touchy? TOUCHY? You bilk us into thinking you're dead AGAIN and you're commenting about my touchiness? Shinichi, in case you have forgotten, I happened to be the president of the karate club!" the high-pitched voice roared, so loud that the people around Shinichi turned their heads at him peculiarly. Shinichi reddened, scurrying to an isolated place before continuing.

"Ok ok! I get it! Now do you want to know what happened or not?"

Ran gritted her teeth. "Yes."

"Sit down then, it will be a long story. Now it happened more than a month ago..."

_The scorching fire crackled turbulently, at such close proximity to Conan and Haibara that a morsel wafted towards Conan and caught fire on his shoe. He allowed the fire to burn on without any attempt to extinguish it._

_"Haibara," he started, his glasses glinting opaquely, echoing the fiery display before them, "I want you to know that, there's no other person I'd rather die with."_

_"K-Kudo-kun..." Haibara wheezed, her lungs desperate for oxygen._

_A ear-splitting shattering of glass from somewhere above them interposed her._

_"I can't allow you to die, tantei-kun," a voice with an uncanny resemblance to Shinichi's tone uttered. "Who will follow me around like a canine after that?"_

_Two pairs of incredulous eyes shot towards the source of voice. A phantom stood, in magnificent white, on a broken window frame high above the building, his splendour heightened by the blistering fire below him._

_"Kaitou Kid!" Conan exclaimed out loud. A corner of his mouth curled upwards involuntarily at the sight of hope in the form of the Magician under the Moonlight._

_"Now, tantei-kun, the fire on your shoe simply won't do. Let me help." Kid soared over towards him, magicking a bucket of water which he poured all over Conan and Haibara._

_"Oi, you're hurting her!" Conan protested as Haibara grimaced at the cold water stinging her bullet wounds._

_"My apologies, Miyano-chan, but this is to save your life." A piercing blue eye and a monocled eye sized her condition up. He shot a worried look at Conan, at which he flinched, because he understood very well what it meant._

_Haibara might not survive._

_"Well, let me get you both out of this inferno," Kid resumed in a superficially light timbre. "Ladies first."_

_He bent down to scoop Haibara up, but Haibara thrashed his arms away weakly._

_"No... G-Get away fr-from m-me..." she panted._

_"Haibara, you have to-"_

_"N-No, don't lea-leave my s-side, Kudo... kun..."_

_Conan winced at how fragile she was being. He felt an immense urge to hug her and protect her, but he knew he would only be hurting her. And so, he contended with a squeeze on her shoulders and a whisper into her ear._

_"I will protect you always..."_

_He placed a butterfly kiss on her bruised cheek before signalling to Kid. Kid rapidly carted her up to his hang-glider, his actions swift but deft. Haibara wanted to protest some more, but just then she fainted._

_"Haibara!"_

_"Don't worry, she's still breathing. Stay here, I'll be right back." Kid took off from the ground and out of the building, leaving a troubled Conan behind in the midst of rolling fire, like an island in a sea of red._

_"Be safe, Haibara..."_

_True to his word, Kid was back promptly._

_"Now your turn, tantei-kun."_

"Wait a sec, Kid was the one who saved you?" Ran remarked disbelievingly.

"Yeah..."

A major question mark overhung conspicuously in Ran's mind. She mumbled softly, "How's Ai-chan?"

Silence. Silence that persisted for so long that Ran feared the worst.

"She's..." Conan began, but faltered off again.

"I-Is she...?"

"No, no!" Conan deterred instantly. "She's still alive and well, and her injuries are practically non-existent now. But..."

"But what?" Ran asked, getting impatient.

"She's blind."

Another silence.

"S-Shinichi..." Ran stammered, racking her brain for a way to comfort him.

"It's ok, I've helped her before, and I'll help her now. I will never give up on her," Conan declared. Ran had to smile.

"And I won't forgive you if you do! Where are you now, anyway?"

"Canada," was Conan's short and concise respond.

"Canada? Isn't that where-"

"Yup, hakase is our guardian here. We may be teenagers in real life, but we look like kids to everyone else," Shinichi said, not without a hint of grumbling.

"Wait," Ran stopped him, scrupulously gathering her thoughts together. "Does that mean he knew all along?"

Conan laughed. "Actually, he and my parents knew all along. Hakase was the one who created the fake corpses the police found. I left my watch on them for identification."

Anger began to escalate in Ran again as she half-lidded her eyes in provocation.

"And you didn't tell me?" her voice growing more and more shrill. Conan, perceptive as always, did not miss the pique.

"I'm very sorry, but as many talents as you possess, acting is not one of them. I can't risk the organisation finding out about our survival!"

"Don't try to butter me up," she said curtly. "But I accept your explanation."

Conan heaved a sigh of relief. He knew from experience that it was never wise to get on Ran's bad side.

"So what are you going to do now?" Ran inquired.

Conan pondered on this for a moment before replying, "I will never absolve the black organisation after what they have done to Haibara! But for now, my priority is Haibara's eyes.

"Aww..."

"What?" Conan ejaculated, irritated at her mushy tone.

"Listen to yourself. Everything you do is for Ai-chan! That's so sweet..."

Conan blushed. "W-What are you talking about? I've got to hang up now, hakase will freak out at the phone bill."

And without another word, he hung up. Ran listened to the click of the phone and smiled.

_Do your best, Shinichi!_

--

Haibara sat down in her new home, her hands busy feeling everything in the house. The couch, leathery and soft, a coffee table made of glass in front of her, a vase with a solitary rose in it.

"Ah!" she cried out, a rose thorn pricking her finger. Hot viscous liquid began leaching out of her forefinger. She dropped her wounded hand, listening intently as the liquid trickled onto the ground, projecting splashes of sound waves that vibrated her ear drums.

_I'm blind again... Is this how I will stay for the rest of my life? This dull, colourless life? A life of nothing but sound waves and touch?_

_He deserves someone better..._

She hoisted herself up and felt her way with her unharmed hand.

Rough walls of unknown colour, smooth glass panel, cold to the feel, wooden window frame, its edges somewhat jagged and...

A door knob. Metal. Wintry. The gateway away from here.

_He deserves someone better..._

Her wobbling hand turned the doorknob. Groping her way out, with each stride her steps became more uncertain, and she tripped.

"Haibara!"

She heard the owner of the voice, the love of her life, sprinting towards her hurriedly and catching her before she could hurtle into the hard ground. The warmth of his hands sent a tingle through her, but she pushed him away, nonetheless.

"Where are you going?" Conan asked, concerned at Haibara's unsteady footsteps. He wanted to support her, to lead the way, but he knew Haibara would just push him away again.

"Away from here," Haibara answered impersonally, her frosty expression in place.

"But why?"

Haibara halted in her pace. Tears trembled in those teals, before she lost control of them, and down they tumbled.

"I don't deserve you..." she murmured, hugging her quivering self tightly, feeling ever so vulnerable in her world of darkness.

She gasped, a pair of strong arms circling her waist, pulling her from behind into a passionate embrace. She felt Conan's head lean on her shoulder, his face so near his breath was prickling her flushed cheeks, his heart thumping against hers robustly.

"That's not true," he said in an undertone, his tenor low and resolute. "I love you, and that's all that matters."

Haibara shook her head vehemently, her soft hair brushing against Conan.

"If I leave, you'll forget me someday..." she said sadly. The arms released her slender waist, and for a moment Haibara was truly afraid that he had indeed deserted her. But then, she felt two hands land on her shoulders from her front.

"I'll show you how much I love you," Conan asserted, and Haibara felt silken lips sweeping her closed eyelids, one at a time, soft, tender yet ardent.

The turquoise orbs fluttered open. Suddenly Haibara felt dizzy, her legs losing their hold when Conan grabbed her back. She steadied herself, finding herself solely dependent on Conan's support at the moment, leaning against his arms. And...

Conan saw her pupils focused on him like the blind never could.

_Could it be...?_

Her fingers reached up and traced his lips. His ceruleans dilated excitedly.

"Haibara, you-"

A finger silenced him on the lips. Slowly, he lowered himself as they sealed their eyes, their throbbing lips finally meeting.

There was light in Haibara's life again.

_I try to hold,  
But the darkness breaks  
My walls, and leaves me  
Defenseless.  
In, rushing silently  
Like a thousand horsemen,  
The darkness floods my soul.  
I want to scream in terror,  
But I cannot, for the darkness,  
Like the cold hard vacuum  
Of space,  
Has sucked away my breath.  
So there I stand, silently horrified,  
Yet utterly unable to do anything  
For myself._

_Then,  
Without any warning,  
A brilliant light floods the crevices of my soul,  
Which even I, in the darkness,  
Had forgotten existed.  
The light dispels in an instant  
The darkness that had taken years  
To take hold,  
And remains,  
Causing me to feel_

_Lightheaded.  
Again, I want to scream,  
This time, not in agony,  
But in ecstasy.  
But the light holds itself  
Across my mouth,  
And I cannot speak.  
Instead, I bask forever  
In the light which  
Came when I didn't ask for it.  
But it came when I needed it most,  
And for that,_

_I love the light._


End file.
